STXV - Now and Forever
by Sanae
Summary: At the end of their five year mission, the Enterprise and her crew get assigned one last, simple mission: to pick up and transport a scientist, her son and the device she's invented to New Vulcan. What will Kirk do when he finds out who the scientist really is?
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything. Star Trek (sadly) belongs to Paramount Pictures.

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Prologue_

Captain's Log, Stardate 2265.48

'Commander Spock and I have just landed on the surface of Yunox IV, a class F planet which, our scanners have detected, is about to enter a very geologically active phase which might mark its transition to class G and that needs to be carefully analysed in order to help us further understand the processes involved in the terraformation of planets. For this reason, we will install a ground-level geological station equipped with powerful sensors that will be able to report everything that occurs on this planet for as long as the machine's integrity is not compromised. Kirk out.'

From his seat inside the shuttle, the Captain took a moment to observe the nearly pitch black environment that surrounded them. Yunox IV's star was too far away to provide strong enough light and the dark rocks that covered the planet were only lit by the web of rivers of lava that criss-crossed the barren surface. It kind of reminded him of some ancient documentaries he'd seen of Iceland, a beautiful island back on Earth.

'Captain,' Spock's muffled voice brought him back to reality, 'you should suit up.'

Kirk looked up at his First Officer and noticed the Vulcan was already wearing the massively uncomfortable but very useful copper coloured thermal biosuit that would keep most of the external heat out, as well as providing them with the oxygen and pressure their bodies needed to survive.

'Give me a minute,' Kirk said getting up from his seat.

'Understood,' Spock replied, 'I will commence unloading the cargo.'

'Okay,' Kirk agreed, 'I'll give you a hand as soon as I'm done.'

'That will not be necessary,' Spock said sounding vaguely cheeky.

Kirk smirked at him for a moment then, he walked to the back of the shuttle to retrieve his thermal biosuit.

A few minutes after struggling to get his helmet on, he triple checked everything to make sure the suit was properly sealed then he clipped on his communicator and, just in case, his phaser as well. Sulu had assured him the planet was completely devoid of life but, after five years exploring often hostile territories, Kirk knew better than to walk around unarmed. Stepping out of the pressurised shuttle, he noticed Spock had also thought of taking his phaser with him. Great minds and all of that, Kirk thought feeling proud of his friend.

'Do we have everything we need?' he asked Spock mentally counting the number of crates on the ground.

'Yes,' the Vulcan confirmed.

'Okay,' Kirk said then, obviously speaking to someone else, he added, 'Mr Harris, you can go back now.'

'Thank you, Captain,' replied the young pilot, 'the coils were beginning to overheat a bit.'

'I'm sure they were,' Kirk said, 'tell Mr Sulu the shuttle is fine before he has a nervous breakdown.'

'Yes, sir,' Harris said sounding definitely amused.

'We'll tell you when we're ready to be beamed up,' the Captain finished.

'Yes, sir,' the pilot repeated.

A moment later, they observed the shuttle taking off, its engines making what basically was the only noise that could be heard, other than the occasional explosion coming from one of Yunox IV's many volcanoes.

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'let's get to work.'

'Yes, sir,' Spock replied.

The two of them started unpacking the series of devices that would need to be assembled together. They needed to be careful since some were very delicate and, between the thermal gloves and the lack of light (they only had the one provided by their helmets), their work was made, to say the least, challenging.

Nevertheless, he and Spock had become an exceedingly well synchronised team and by following his accurate instructions, very soon they had every piece of machinery mounted exactly where it belonged.

'You seem dissatisfied,' his First Officer commented while he connected a cable, 'is there something amiss?'

'Not really,' Kirk said checking the seismographer he'd just finished installing, 'it's just that…'

'Yes?' Spock asked him.

'It's a little anticlimactic, isn't it?' Kirk asked him staring at the Vulcan through his helmet's visor.

'Elaborate,' Spock gently requested.

'This,' Kirk replied gesturing with his hand indicating their surroundings, 'after what we've been through, this is kind of a downer as last missions go. I don't know what I was hoping for but…this…this wasn't it.'

'I see,' Spock commented, 'this will probably fail to make you feel better but, the device we are currently installing belongs to the last generation of geological stations. It will serve the purpose of, not only monitoring the planet's activity but, also, to evaluate the practical utility of our latest scientific theories.

'Yeah,' Kirk said shaking his head, 'you're right: it doesn't help me feel better.'

Spock curved his lips in the shadow of smile he usually reserved for his Captain then, before he could make any comment about it, he returned his attention to his work, quietly implying that Kirk should do the same.

Less than half an hour later, the Vulcan turned the device on.

'It appears all is functioning as expected,' he said with his usual monotone.

'Yay!' Kirk exclaimed with faked enthusiasm, 'can we go now?'

'Affirmative, Captain,' Spock replied.

'Good,' Kirk said, 'because I…' he trailed his voice as the torch on his helmet spotted something that he was fairly sure had not been there before, lowering his tone to just above a whisper, he said, 'what's that?'

Spock didn't reply, instead, he too stared at the large rock that had appeared out of nowhere.

'I am uncertain,' the Vulcan replied.

'Well, I am sure it wasn't there before,' Kirk said.

Confused, the two of them were trying to decide what to do when the rock shoot up all of a sudden revealing two things: one, it was even larger than it had previously looked; two, it was very much alive.

'RUN!' Kirk ordered Spock.

Not needing to be asked twice, the Vulcan showed the reason why he was the prime choice for this sort of missions as he ran with the heavy thermal biosuit on with an ease that made Kirk curse his much weaker fully human body.

'I assume this qualifies as an improvement to our mission's parameters,' Spock commented while they ran.

'Very…funny,' Kirk struggled to retort.

They managed to reach the spot where Scott had told them the transporter would be able to beam them up. Spock was about to issue the order when the rock like lifeform jumped aiming at him, as though as it was trying to absorb the Vulcan within its own body.

'Get down!' Kirk shouted while he fired a series of phaser blasts that impacted directly on the creature.

He wasn't sure what would happen but, to his surprise, the thing seemed to temporarily freeze in place.

'Enterprise, beam us up, now!' Spock said barely managing to keep his proverbial cool.

An instant later, they found themselves on opposite landing pads back onboard their beloved ship and as they stared at each other feeling in awe that they were actually alive, they heard Dr McCoy's worried voice:

'JIM!'

'I'm fine,' Kirk said clumsily stepping out of his pad.

'The hell you…'

'Honestly, Bones,' Kirk insisted, 'I am actually fine.'

The doctor stared at him for a moment then he glanced at the Vulcan who was quick to assure him:

'We are both unharmed.'

'Good,' Dr McCoy huffed then, he couldn't help but to ask, 'what the hell happened this time?'

'Help us get out of this thing and I'll tell you all about it,' Kirk bargained pointing at his biosuit.

Ten minutes later and once they were freed from their suits, Kirk and Spock made their way to the bridge while a more furious than incredulous McCoy returned to Medical muttering what sounded like a death threat directed to his best friend, though Kirk only managed to pick up the words neck and hypo-spray.

'The doctor was not happy,' Spock commented as they walked.

'Spock,' Kirk replied, 'do you remember what I said about your habit to understate everything?'

'Of course I do,' he replied.

'You're doing it again,' Kirk said then, not giving him time to retort, he announced, 'I've untied our draw.'

'Draw?' Spock asked him.

'Yes,' Kirk said, 'it's now been thirteen times you've saved my life and fourteen I've saved yours.'

'That is not accurate,' Spock countered.

'What do you…' Kirk started asking then, he got very serious and said, 'that one time doesn't count.'

'It does,' Spock insisted.

'I thought we would never speak of it again,' Kirk said lowering his tone of voice.

'I am aware of that,' Spock said, 'but it makes the count thirteen to fifteen. Besides,' he continued, 'I see no shame in counting that time. After all, if it hadn't been for your intervention, I would have surely perished.'

'Yes,' Kirk agreed, 'but I just don't think it would make for much of a story to tell people I had to seduce a female old enough to be my grandmother in order to give you the time to free yourself from your restrains.'

'Technically,' Spock commented, 'the female in question was only four earth years old.'

'Geez!' Kirk exclaimed looking utterly disgusted, 'that didn't make me feel better then and it still doesn't now!'

'My apologies, Captain,' Spock said sounding more like he was teasing him instead of saying sorry.

'Just don't talk about this again,' Kirk said jabbing his finger onto the Vulcan's chest, 'that's an order!'

'Understood,' Spock replied trying to sound his usual serious self, failing miserably.

'Aargh,' Kirk said clearly giving up.

They entered the bridge where they found most of the Alpha shift there, including Gary Mitchell who was currently trying to impress Janice Rand, a Yeoman who had joined the crew less than a year before. Kirk couldn't blame him, the Yeoman was a beautiful woman but her light blond hair reminded him too much of…

'Captain on the bridge!' Chekov's cheerful announcement happily interrupted his troubling thoughts.

'Captain!' Rand said abandoning Mitchell, 'are you unhurt? We heard from Medical that…'

'I am fine,' he hurried to reassure her and everyone else while he replaced Sulu on the Captain's chair.

'Are you sure?' she insisted, 'if there's anything you need, I can…'

'Yes, there is,' Kirk said eager to keep her busy, 'please get the log I recorded earlier planet-side transferred to the computer, make two backup copies and then ensure it gets properly filed.'

'Yes, sir,' the girl replied looking very happy she could help her Captain.

'Mr Sulu,' Kirk said removing his attention from her, 'you're gonna have to get Yunox IV moved from the list of uninhabited planets to, definitely inhabited. That thing down there was alive and not happy to see us.'

'Yes, sir,' Sulu said having the decency to look sorry, 'but sir, I swear the scanners didn't see anything.'

'I know,' Kirk replied offering him a reassuring smile, 'in your defence, I'm pretty sure that it has never been catalogued before, we've probably found a brand new life form,' he added, excitement obvious in his eyes.

'Captain,' Chekov said, 'I am getting a lot of readings from the device you and Commander Spock installed.'

'Route them to the Science Station,' Kirk ordered exchanging a quick glance with Spock.

'I shall commence the analysis,' the Vulcan said taking his usual seat.

'Perfect,' Kirk said smiling at him, 'we don't have any information about that thing down there so, once you're done, we will assemble another away team to go and collect as much data as we can.'

'That's not going to be possible, sir,' Uhura intervened.

'Why not?' Kirk demanded.

'While you were away,' Uhura explained, 'I received orders from Starfleet. They want us to go to 25-Alpha near the Romulan border to pick up Dr Elizabeth Kirk and her two year old son together with the prototype of a device she has designed for transportation to New Vulcan.'

'Elizabeth Kirk?' Rand asked him, 'is she a relative of yours, Captain?'

'Definitely not,' Kirk replied getting serious.

'They want us to go to New Vulcan?' Spock asked Uhura.

'Yes, Commander,' she replied.

'Spock, silver lining,' Kirk said after regaining his boyish grin, 'you get to go and see your father.'

'And the other me,' the Vulcan agreed.

'That will never stop sounding confusing,' Mitchell pointed out from his tactical station.

Kirk laughed out loud once then, taking a look around his bridge, he took the time to consider their options. The creature had clearly been there for a really long time so surely it would remain there for a while longer and now the Federation knew about its existence, they could send another ship to investigate. If anything, Kirk thought as a consolation, the credit for the discovery would always be Spock's and his.

'Okay,' he said, 'Mr Sulu, set course to the Starbase 25-Alpha, let's go and get that mad scientist'

'Aye, Captain,' Sulu replied.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter One

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter One_

The peace and quiet Team Genesis usually enjoyed was disrupted by the biggest event they had had since their formation and, albeit only their top three scientists were expected to be there, Carol noticed with a bit of pride, that her whole team had showed up in the laboratory nonetheless.

The reason was obvious. Today they would send her away together with the device they'd all been working on non stop for the best part of two years but, due to security reasons, they had to dismantle it first. This made everyone feel very uneasy, the smallest mistake and they could potentially ruin everything.

Carol was grateful her friend and fellow physicist Dr Ritte was there. Thanks to the old man's surprisingly steady hands, they were able to take the machine apart in no time and, very soon, they had the highly unstable core safely packed away.

'Okay,' the old man said breathing out his relief, 'the worst part is over.'

'Yes,' Carol agreed, 'now let's get the rest wrapped up.'

'Yes, ma'am,' he said with a mock military salute, 'I'll better go and help Julian, otherwise he'll just panic.'

'I don't blame him,' she said, 'and he's not the only one: I'm meant to be loading this into the shuttle in about an hour and we're nowhere near ready. Plus, I am really worried about the Vulcan elders, what if they change their mind and decide they don't want to help us after all?'

'Why would they do that?' Dr Ritte asked her.

'I don't know,' she said, 'it's just that I keep having this nightmare where I show up and they tell me they're not interested. I know it's irrational but you know we were lucky to get an audience with them.'

'Yes, I know,' he confirmed, 'after what happened to their planet, it's only normal they'd become even more reserved than they've always been so it's to be expected they wouldn't want a bunch of human scientist running around their Academy, however, they accepted to see you and I know it's because they think your device has enormous potential. Lizzy, you could very well solve their current predicament and help them create a brand new planet for them!'

'I know,' she replied, 'but…'

'You're a great scientist,' he insisted, 'and don't let any Vulcan say the opposite, you hear me?'

'I hear you,' Carol replied offering him a smile.

'Good,' he said feeling satisfied, 'now let's finish this.'

'Hey Tommy,' she said, 'thanks for everything, I wouldn't have managed without you.'

'You're more than welcome, Lizzy,' he said patting her on her shoulder.

She watched him walking up to Julian, their Chief Engineer, and the two soon started issuing orders left, right and centre to everyone there, with Tommy deciding that since they had come in to work, everyone would do just that. Because of this, Carol found herself free to get everything she needed from their main computer downloaded onto her personal PADD and even make a back up copy of that.

By some miracle, forty five minutes later there was one single middle sized dark brown crate mounted on a pallet, ready to be transported to the Starbase's small shuttlebay. But Carol knew it was too soon to relax, in fact, it was now that the most challenging part of the day started.

The team waited for two members of the Starbase's facilities staff to come in with a turboforklift. When they arrived, they had to go through a full security check, including a full x-ray scan of their vehicle. Once they were cleared, the two men stepped into the laboratory looking slightly annoyed of the overparanoid attitude.

'Let me see your IDs,' Carol asked them while Tommy and Julian protectively stood in front of the crate.

'Come on, beautiful,' one of them said, 'you know who I am, don't you?'

Oh, she internally gasped her disgust, indeed she knew who he was. His name was Gus and he was this very annoying guy who had unilaterally decided she was the woman of his dreams one day, a few months ago, when they'd met at the supermarket while she was trying to keep Jimmy from getting into trouble.

'I do know who you are,' she confirmed coolly, 'but I still need to see those IDs.'

'Alright,' he said and then he snatched his partner's card and then showed them to her, 'happy now?'

'Yes,' she replied, 'please go ahead,' she added indicating the crate.

While they were busy loading the pallet into the turboforklift, Carol took a moment to look at her team.

'Thank you all very much,' she said looking a little sad.

'Good luck,' Julian said, 'and have a safe trip!'

'I'll do my best,' Carol said, 'but you never know, with those starships…'

'Hear, hear,' Tommy intervened, 'that's the reason I don't travel anymore, I don't trust those damn things.'

'Don't tell her that!' Julian complained then, to Carol, she said, 'you'll be fine Dr Kirk, don't listen to him!'

'I know,' she said laughing, 'everything will be fine, I will report back as soon as I arrive at New Vulcan.'

'Okay,' Tommy said while Julian nodded.

'We're done here,' one of the transporters announced.

'Okay,' she replied, 'I guess this is me. I'll see you all soon.'

Grabbing her briefcase, she followed the turboforklift on foot until they met with the two security details that would accompany them all the way to the shuttlebay. Carol was grateful for their presence, not only because she was increasingly worried about the safety of her invention but, also, so she would not be forced to endure the inane conversation Gus would probably try to charm her with today.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the spaceport where she was greeted by the sight of Aunt Martha sitting on one of the small benches of the civilian waiting area. Next to her, she had a small suitcase containing some essentials for Carol and most of Jimmy's clothes. On top of that, she spotted the boy's light blue baby bag and, sitting on the old woman's lap, playing with his brand new teddy bear, she saw her beautiful boy.

'Mummy!' he shouted happily as soon as she saw her.

'I'll be with you in a moment, I promise,' she said while she went in to supervise the loading of the crate into the cargo section of the shuttle. She finished that quickly enough and, after she signed the appropriate transportation documents, they were ready to go. Only then, she returned to the waiting area.

'Are you excited about the trip?' she asked Jimmy taking him in her arms.

'Yep,' he said nodding once.

Kissing him on his cheek, she immediately noticed he was, once again, running a bit of temperature.

'He's fine,' Aunt Martha said, 'just a couple of lines over,' she told her, 'I got the doctor to check him this morning, just in case, and he said that's just that cold he's been having. He gave him an antipyretic and declared him fit for duty, didn't he?' she asked Jimmy cradling his face with her right hand. The boy presented her with his best grin and that made her tell Carol, 'see? You have nothing to worry about.'

'What about the ship?' she asked her, 'did you find out her name?'

'Yeah,' Martha said dismissively, 'it's the USS Republic, or something like that.'

'Oh,' Carol gasped feeling washed with relief, 'I know her Captain, he's a really nice man and loves children.'

'Yeah, well,' Martha said, 'you better get going then, I see the shuttle's almost ready to go.'

'Yes,' Carol said then, to her son, she asked him, 'we're going to go into a big, big starship, you know? You're not going to be scared, are you?'

'Nope,' her boy replied bravely, 'mummy starship!' he exclaimed smiling at her.

'Okay then,' she said forcing herself not to think of the fact that Jimmy's grin, just like the rest of his face, looked exactly like his father's, 'let's go. Aunt Martha,' she added, 'can you please help me with those?'

'Of course,' the older woman said taking the baby bag and the suitcase.

Carol carried Jimmy's fold up pushchair and her briefcase with one arm while she balanced her son in the other and was grateful when the pilot himself helped her store everything away not far from the compartment where they'd loaded the crate containing the Genesis device.

'We'll be departing in four minutes,' he informed her.

'Thank you,' she replied.

Turning round with Jimmy still in her arms, she went to say good bye to Martha who now looked a little sad and a bit worried.

'We'll be back soon,' Carol promised.

'I know,' she said, 'just look after yourself and Jimmy, okay?'

'Of course,' she said.

After this, the woman had to disembark the shuttle and this made Carol go to find her seat. She had picked the one closest to the storage area and, while it was right next to the only bathroom in the shuttle, which was convenient while travelling with a small child, it had no windows so they could no longer see her Aunt.

'It's going to be okay,' she told Jimmy while she helped him settle down on her lap, 'you really like this teddy, don't you?' she asked him watching the tender way in which he hugged what had been Martha's present for his second birthday, only four days before, 'have you decided its name yet?'

'Yep,' the boy said, 'it's Teddy.'

'Teddy?' Carol asked him smiling at him.

'Yep,' he confirmed looking proud of his choice.

'Teddy the teddy,' she said, 'oh well, as long as you like it.'

The boy nodded and pushed Teddy to her face so that she would give it a kiss. She obliged and then Jimmy offered his cheek so that she would kiss him too. Chuckling softly, she thought her boy was becoming quite the lady charmer. Just like his father, she couldn't help but to think.

'We're ready for take off, Dr Kirk,' the shuttle's pilot announced thankfully interrupting the unhappy thought. 'we'll arrive at destination in twenty five minutes, be sure to let me know if you or your boy need anything.'

'Thank you,' she said talking into the nearest intercom.

On the main docking area, the one reserved for the larger ships which occasionally visited the Starbase, the Enterprise could be seen taking a massive amount of space. Onboard the flagship, her Captain and First Officer were busy revising the bridge staff working rota when Yeoman Rand came into the ready room.

'Spaceport has just reported Dr Kirk's shuttle has taken off,' she said.

'Already?' Kirk asked looking genuinely surprised, 'but we just docked ourselves.'

'I know, sir,' she said shrugging her shoulders, 'I guess she must be in a hurry to leave.'

'Yeah, I don't blame her,' Kirk commented, 'I would not want to be locked up in a starbase for too long.'

Spock didn't say anything but the way he raised his eyebrow made it clear he was of the same opinion.

'Let's go then,' Kirk said leaving his PADD on the table and getting up from his chair.

Spock followed him out while Rand collected the PADDs, carefully storing them away in a drawer before she too, started making her way with the two officers. As always, she delighted herself listening to their conversations which more often than not were a lot more entertaining than the ship's boring grapevine.

'She can't be that old,' she heard Kirk commenting, 'I mean, she's got a two year old boy, right?'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock replied patiently.

'I wish I had thought of checking her file at the Starfleet database,' the Captain continued.

'I did, Captain,' Rand intervened.

'Really?' Kirk asked her, 'what does she look like?' he asked her with unreserved curiosity.

'She's blonde like me,' she said enjoying having his attention, 'but, to be honest, she's nothing special.'

'Oh,' Kirk said frowning, 'that's not good then.'

'Sorry, sir,' she said smiling at him.

'Captain,' Spock said, 'I do not believe it is necessary for me to remind you that…'

'I know, I know,' Kirk said, 'I was just joking. Besides, this Dr Kirk or whatever won't be onboard for more than a week but her boy might be fun to have around. Spock, I don't think I have ever seen you interacting with small children. I mean, there was that incident with the Ferengi kids but…'

'I do not think the comparison is appropriate,' Spock said, 'young Ferengi are often extremely spoilt by their mothers and their education, for lack of a better term, dramatically differs from the discipline applied to young Vulcans. I daresay a human child's level of obedience can be found somewhere in between.'

'Yeah,' Kirk agreed, 'that's probably an accurate assessment.'

'In any case,' Spock continued, 'I highly doubt I will be required to interact with this child. I think there are other crewmen who are much better qualified than I am in terms of human childcare.'

'Wait a minute,' Kirk said stopping him right in the middle of the corridor, forcing Rand to come to an abrupt halt too, 'are you saying,' the Captain said sounding indecently amused, 'that you aren't good at something?'

Spock became all prim and proper and, raising one of his eyebrows, he calmly said:

'I am merely referring to the fact that, as a Vulcan, I do not possess the necessary knowledge to…'

'Yeah,' Kirk said interrupting him, 'you're just saying you aren't good at taking care of kids.'

'Well, I…'

'No, no,' Kirk said, 'don't burst my bubble and let me enjoy this for a moment.'

For only an instant, Spock looked a little offended then he shook his head once and started walking again.

'Wait, I'm not done yet!' Kirk complained as he chased after his First Officer.

Seeing this scene, Yeoman Rand tried to repress a chuckle while she remembered, for the umpteenth time that year, how lucky she'd been to land a post that had been highly coveted by most of her female classmates as soon as Starfleet Command advertised the vacancy onboard the Enterprise. It really was a dream job, Rand thought following her incredibly handsome Captain to the ship's main shuttlebay.

The three of them left behind the nice, immaculately clean white corridors that crisscrossed inside the ship's saucer and entered the more industrial looking part of the Enterprise, the part that housed three of the most important sections of the vessel: Engineering, the weapons and shuttle bays.

They had almost made it to their destination when Kirk noticed that Spock's frame looked tenser than usual. This, the Captain knew, was a clear sign that the Vulcan was upset and it made him realise he'd taken the joke a little too far. Stepping closer to him, he gently placed a hand on top of his shoulder and said:

'I was just kidding, you know that, right?'

Spock just twitched his eyebrow up.

'I know that one day,' Kirk continued, 'you're going to be a great father. Hey,' he added, 'if you've managed to put up with me all these years, I'm sure one or two kids won't be so difficult to handle, right?'

'You do make a good point, Captain,' Spock finally said, his body relaxing a bit.

'Er…' Kirk hesitated trying to figure out if Spock was actually agreeing with him or...

'They're landing,' Rand announced pointing at the only incoming shuttle that could be seen from there.

'Oh good,' Kirk said removing his hand from Spock's shoulder, 'at least we won't have to wait for them, right?'

Spock nodded his agreement and the two of them made their way along the walkway in their usual synched step. This indicated the Vulcan was no longer offended and, for that, Kirk felt very happy since he really hated it when Spock was upset, even more so when he'd been the reason of his distress.

By the time they arrived at the touch down area, the shuttle had already landed and its pilot had just finished opening its main door. Kirk was just getting ready to be as polite and welcoming as the occasion required when, out of the shuttle, he saw a toddler running down the ramp as fast as his short legs could carry him. This in itself would have been unremarkable, if only a tad unsafe, considering they were in the middle of a heavily trafficked area but, something about the boy made him freeze right where he stood.

Focusing on the child, it was as time itself stopped and the only thing Kirk's brain managed to process as the kid ran closer to him was that he'd seen that mop of blonde hair, that round little face, the full pink lips and those huge, brilliant blue eyes before. Then it all clicked into place: he saw them every day, when he looked at himself in the mirror. That kid was an almost exact copy to what he had looked like at that age.

He found himself hyperventilating while his brain sent him a message that was utterly impossible and, very slowly, he removed his gaze from the wandering boy forcing himself to look back at the shuttle. There, running down the ramp rushing after the kid, he saw her: the woman who had crushed his heart two years, eight months, three weeks and four days ago.

'Carol,' he somehow managed to say.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Two_

It had been a fraction of a second but apparently, the short time she spent gathering their belongings had been more than enough for her son to climb down his seat and run down the aisle. She only noticed he was gone when she saw him stepping out of the shuttle via the recently opened door.

'Jimmy!' she exclaimed with horror dropping her briefcase.

Too busy rushing after him, she failed to pay attention where she was and only when he was safely back in her arms, she allowed herself to quickly glance around the Shuttlebay. A gut instinct told her something in the large hangar was incredibly wrong and, when her eyes landed on one of the parked shuttles, she finally understood what it was; painted on its side, she read the name of the ship the aircraft belonged to:

USS Enterprise.

Carol felt her heart skip a beat and as a cold sensation invaded her chest, she finally looked in front of her.

'Oh no…' she muttered.

Angst knotting her throat, she fought to keep some resemblance of composure as she was faced with the deadliest glare she had ever seen. Iceberg coloured eyes bore through her with such intensity that it made her forget how to breathe. She briefly considered turning round and take refuge in the civilian shuttle but then, as though he had read her mind, he spoke to her with an Arctic tone:

'Don't you dare!'

'Jim…'

'You must be insane if you think I'll let you get away from me again,' he basically spat at her.

The two of them looked at each other for what seemed an eternity while poor Jimmy held Teddy closer to his chest as he tried to figure out what was happening. He didn't like the quiet tension that had formed in the atmosphere and was about to let everyone know how unhappy this all made him when Spock said:

'Yeoman Rand, return to the bridge.'

Needless to say, the girl was too frightened of the Commander to even think of arguing the order, no matter how curious she was about the current situation. Because of this and after daring to take one final look at the scene in front of her, she turned round and started making her way to the ship's centre of command.

'Captain…' Spock then started.

'Mr Spock,' Jim interrupted him still glaring at Carol with the power of a thousand suns, 'please get Mr Scott to come down here and take care of the cargo. Then take the conn and set course to New Vulcan,' he ordered him, 'Dr Marcus and I will be in the ready room having a long talk.'

'Jim…'

'Quiet!' Kirk snapped at her, 'Mr Spock, make sure we are not disturbed.'

'Yes, Captain,' Spock replied.

'Good,' Kirk said then, at Carol, he ordered her to, 'follow me.'

Carol looked at her son and then the shuttle wondering for a wild moment if she'd be allowed to go and retrieve Jimmy's bag. She quickly rejected the idea when she saw that Kirk was not-so-patiently waiting for her.

'Okay,' she said with a small voice.

While they covered the long distance which separated the ship's main Shuttlebay from the uppermost deck where the Captain's ready room was, Carol kept watching Kirk's back as if she half expected him to turn round and leap on her like the angry lion he was. She knew the notion was preposterous for if she knew the Captain as well as she thought she did, he would never intentionally hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.

The problem was, a little voice in her head was quick to point out, that she did deserve it.

'Mummy?' she heard Jimmy asking her softly, as if he too had felt the shiver going down his mother's back.

Carol didn't answer him and just hugged him closer to her instead.

By the time they made it to the ready room, her nerves were as tense as the cords of a violin and she started thinking she would get physically sick if she wasn't allowed to sit down for a while. Thankfully, that was precisely the first order Jim gave her as soon as they stepped into the rectangular shaped ready room.

'Take a seat,' he all but barked at her.

Too happy to comply, she sat down at the first chair she could grab, realising a little too late that it was the one reserved for the Captain himself. She tried getting up but Kirk stopped her with yet another harsh order:

'Don't move!'

While she sat back down, Kirk noticed the little boy was about to start crying and this finally brought home that his anger was probably scaring the poor kid. For this reason and while Carol did her best to soothe the boy, Kirk turned round, giving his back to the two of them while he too, fought to calm down a bit.

As he did that, he also listened to Carol's soft, comforting words and, among them, he heard a name:

Jimmy.

Suddenly, from the chockfull of questions he had in his brain, one gained the topmost priority:

'Is that his name?' he asked her, still refusing to face her.

The question seemed to take her by surprise for it took her a moment to gather her thoughts to answer it.

'Yes.'

It irked Kirk to hear such a small, fearful tone coming out of her. The Carol he knew, the one who had made him fall head over heels in love with was much stronger than this; his Carol was the bravest woman he'd ever met.

This one, he thought with a pang of sadness, seemed to be afraid of her own shadow.

'It's James David Kirk,' she then supplied before he could ask.

'David?' he asked her finally turning round to look at her.

'It was my grandfather's name,' she explained, 'from my mother's side,' she added.

'I see,' Kirk said.

Carol seemed to try with all her might to keep her gaze trained on his but, to his disappointment, she lowered it as if it was too much for her to handle. This made him unreasonably angry and it showed in his next question:

'What are you doing on my ship? Is this some sort of joke or…'

'No!' she replied once again looking at him, 'I…this…I didn't know…I thought…'

Stop stuttering! He exclaimed in his own head just about managing to keep himself from saying out loud.

'What did you think?' he asked her instead, 'that I wouldn't find out you were onboard? Because if…'

'No,' she stopped him again and, at long last, some of the old Carol seemed to come to the surface, 'someone else arranged the pick up for us, I was led to believe we would be boarding the USS Republic. I didn't know it was going to be the Enterprise. If I had known…' stopped herself before she ruined it all.

'You wouldn't have come onboard if you'd known it was my ship,' Kirk still managed to figure out.

'Jim, I…'

'It's Captain Kirk,' he corrected her harshly.

He regretted this when he saw her bravery disappearing once again beneath a shimmer of unshed tears.

'I'm sorry,' she somehow managed to say, 'I…'

'Why did you leave?' he then asked her.

She looked up at him at the same time as a tear escaped her eye, rolling down her cheek.

'Wasn't it obvious?' she asked him, while another tear followed the first.

'No, it wasn't,' he replied keeping himself in check so that he would not follow his instinct to go and hug her.

Carol stared at him looking incredulous for a moment then, she just seemed resigned as she said:

'When I learned I couldn't have children, I thought my life was over but then…you asked me to marry you.'

'Yeah, I did,' Kirk said, 'because I thought it would make it clear I didn't care about that.'

'But I did!' Carol exclaimed startling poor Jimmy, 'don't you understand?' she asked him, 'I didn't want you to have to live with me like that. I didn't want to condemn you to a childless life! I…I wanted you to find someone else who could make you become a father…I…I'm really sorry, I just…I panicked…I'm so sorry…'

She stopped speaking becoming such a sobbing mess that it made Jimmy drop his teddy bear and, placing his tiny hands on his mother's cheeks, he started doing his best to get her to calm down. Watching this was too much for Kirk and, walking away from her, he went to open the drawer where some tissues were kept.

'Here,' he said offering the box to her.

Seeing the tissues made her feel even worse and, with a shaky hand, she pulled a couple of them out, dabbing her eyes with them. Kirk observed as little Jimmy kept a close eye on his mother as if he wanted to be sure she would stop being upset. In spite of barely knowing him, Kirk felt a surge of pride invading his heart.

This incredible little boy was his son.

'Where did you go?' Kirk asked her finally sitting down a couple of chairs away from her.

'I left the Enteprise onboard the USS Republic,' she replied.

'I already know that,' Kirk said still sounding a little drier than usual, 'we lost your traces there.'

Carol looked at him and frowned for a moment before she said:

'One of the engineers told me she was being dropped off at a starbase. I resigned my commission and disembarked with her.'

'And then?'

'Then I was left alone,' Carol said, 'I didn't know where to go, I was my father's daughter and, let's just say that I didn't have a lot of friends left. The only family I still had was an Aunt I had not seen in years. I tried calling her but she didn't answer so I ended up going to the only place I was sure I would be welcomed.'

'Which is?' Kirk asked her.

'I went to stay with Christine Chapel,' she replied, 'we are good friends and…'

'…and you knew it would be the last place I would look for you,' Kirk finished for her.

'Yes,' she bravely admitted, 'I only intended staying with her until I figured out what I would do with the rest of my life but then…then…I…I couldn't even believe it…the medical report you showed me was categorical and yet...'

'There was a five percent chance,' Kirk reminded her.

'Yes but…come on,' she tried to reason, 'five percent…with that sort of odds…'

Kirk let out a humourless chuckle while he remembered the conversation he'd had with Spock the night he'd found out. He knew Spock had only been trying to make him feel better but, as it turned out, he had been right.

'We managed to beat them, didn't we?' Kirk asked her looking at Jimmy who stared back at him curiously.

'Yeah,' Carol said speaking with a tiny voice.

'Why didn't you tell me?' Kirk asked her.

'I tried,' she said taking him by surprise, 'I tried finding you or your ship but it seemed like you had vanished. I asked Christine to help me but all she could find out was that you were out of the quadrant.'

Kirk tried to remember the months after her disappearance and, just then, he recalled having accepted a mission to go and fix a malfunctioning relay installed near the border with the Gamma Quadrant. They had only been there for a couple of weeks before returning to the area near the Romulan Neutral Zone.

'I figured,' she continued, 'that you were truly going where no one had gone before and…'

'...and you gave up,' he finished for her.

'No,' she replied, 'I still wanted to tell you but then Jimmy was born and…I had trouble adjusting to that.'

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked her with a worried frown.

'I suffered from post-partum depression,' Carol said, 'I wouldn't have come out of it if it hadn't been for Christine but, after I got better, I knew I was overstaying my welcome so I tried once again finding my aunt. She answered my call and then I moved to 25-Alpha and I started working on a project that had occurred to me while I was pregnant with him. One thing led to another and by the time I realised, it had been over two years since I had last seen you. I…I just guessed you would have moved on and that…if we showed up…'

'You thought you would ruin it for me,' he said more than asked.

'Yes,' she confirmed, 'I didn't know what to do, I only knew that I didn't want to make a mess of your life, not after what I'd done to you.'

Kirk stared at her giving himself a moment to gather his thoughts.

'Were you ever going to tell me?' he finally asked.

'I really don't know,' she honestly replied, 'but I started using your surname so that I could give it to him hoping that, one day, maybe when he'd be older, I could tell him who his father was.'

Feeling the anger bubbling once more, he tried to remain calm when he said:

'So instead of ruining my life, you chose to ruin his?' she had the decency not to answer to that. 'Carol,' he continued, '_I_ grew up without a father and you know damn well how it nearly destroyed my life. How could you do this to him?' he asked gesturing towards Jimmy, 'how could you be so selfish?'

'I don't know,' Carol repeated, her voice strangled by guilt.

'I'm sorry,' he said shocking her, 'but I don't know how to forgive this. I…I don't even think I can.'

'I know,' Carol replied, 'you have every reason to be angry and I'm not asking you to forgive me, I…I just…'

'You what?' Kirk demanded, 'what do you want from me?'

Visibly swallowing, she tried to gather the courage she needed to reply when they both heard a buzzer.

'Dammit,' Kirk muttered, getting up from his chair, he pressed the intercom's button and said, 'who is it?'

'My apologies, Captain,' came Spock's calm voice, 'I am aware you must not be disturbed at the present moment but we have just received a distress call and your presence is required on the bridge.'

Kirk reflected his answer before he pressed the button again and said:

'I'll be there in a minute.'

'Thank you, Captain,' Spock replied.

Carol looked at him as if she was waiting for some sort of instructions too.

'I'll send Yeoman Rand in,' he said, 'she'll take you to the quarters that have been assigned to you,' he explained then, narrowing his impossibly blue eyes, he warned her, 'I am going to issue a ship-wide order for everyone to keep an eye on you two. We are very far from done here so, if you so much as think of leaving this ship again, I'll be the first to know, is that clear?'

'Yes, sir,' she said out of instinct.

This made him flinch but then he remembered his order to keep the appropriate formalities.

'Er…' he then heard her hesitate, 'I…I will need to go and check on the cargo, I…'

'I will let Mr Scott know that he is to take you to its storage room.'

'Thank you,' she said tensely.

Hearing this made his tone soften a bit and, glancing at their son, he asked her:

'Is there anything you need for him?'

'No,' Carol replied, 'I have everything I need in his bag and, the rest I can get it from the replicator.'

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'I'll be back as soon as I can.'

Carol just nodded and, after this, he stepped out of the room as if he couldn't wait to get out of there as fast as possible. But who could blame him? She thought miserably, now she understood the magnitude of her mistake, the true implications of her selfish choice, she asked herself the same question that had tormented her after Jimmy's birth: why had such a miracle been wasted on someone like her?

'Mummy,' she somehow managed to hear her boy's voice through her troubled thoughts, 'is mummy sad?' Jimmy asked her.

Focusing on her son, she tried to get herself together and, shaking her head once, she tried to sound brave:

'No, mummy is not sad.'

Jimmy didn't look convinced and, climbing off her lap, he went to retrieve his fallen Teddy offering it to her.

'Mummy can have Teddy.'

'Oh Jimmy,' Carol said picking him up from the floor, 'I love you so much,' she said while she kissed him.

This seemed to tickle him and soon, the room was filled with his loud, happy giggles.

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter Three

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Three_

Having settled down in the room which had been assigned to her and, with Jimmy taking his post mid-morning meal nap, Carol was considering taking a quick shower when she heard the door's buzzer. Hurrying to get the door open before it would wake her son, she found herself in front of Montgomery Scott.

'Hello there,' he said sounding as friendly as usual.

'Hi,' she replied shyly.

'The Captain told me you wanted to see where your machine is stored,' the Engineer explained.

'Yes, please,' she asked politely.

'Okay,' he said, 'are you ready to go now?'

'Er…' she hesitated glancing at the bed Jimmy was lying on, 'I…he just fell asleep and…'

'I can come back later,' he kindly suggested, 'you can call me when the wee one's awake.'

'No,' she said quickly making her mind up, 'give me a minute and I'll move him to his pushchair. He won't wake if I'm careful,' she added a little unnecessarily. Without waiting for Scott's answer, she walked back into the room and, picking her son up as gently as she could, she moved him to the fold up buggy she had brought with her. She then took a light baby blanket and covered him with it.

'Alright,' Scotty said when she was ready, 'please, follow me.'

At first the two of them walked silently but then, the Chief Engineer glanced over at the sleeping little boy, a soft smile instantly appearing on his face. He then looked at Carol and asked:

'How old is he?'

'He turned two four days ago,' she replied.

'I see…' he just said then, he couldn't help but to add, 'he really is the spitting image of…' realising what he was about to say, he cut himself short while he fidgeted. Seeing this made her say:

'Don't worry, I know he looks a lot like his father.'

'Sorry,' he said, 'I…I didn't mean to…it's just that, the resemblance is uncanny.'

'I know,' Carol said allowing herself to feel a little proud, 'I can only hope the resemblance won't end with his looks alone. I'll count myself lucky if the Kirk genes are the dominant ones in his case.'

Scotty didn't say anything to that but it was obvious he disagreed with her opinion.

'So, tell me about your invention,' he asked her instead, 'I read the specs I found with the shipping documents but I couldn't for the life of me fathom what it does. Is it some sort of generator or…'

'Something like that,' Carol replied as they entered the turbolift, she waited until Scotty selected the correct floor to continue, 'it's an idea that I had while I was pregnant. You see, after the whole fiasco with Khan and…my father,' she hesitated briefly, 'well, let's just say that I changed my mind about being a weapons specialist. I started thinking that the last thing this universe needed was more tools to destroy life. I thought that, for once, we should build something that would create it instead.'

'I couldn't agree more,' Scotty showing his heartfelt approval.

'The Genesis device,' she explained, 'aims to trigger a chemical chain reaction that replicates the same terraforming processes that allow for a previously barren planet to start supporting life accelerating them exponentially so that something which would naturally take millions of years can be made possible in one or two or even less. We've got it as far as creating water in all its states and to have soil fertile enough for plants and other simple organisms to thrive in.'

'That's very impressive,' the Engineer commented.

'Thank you,' she said, 'it wasn't just me working on this project but I feel very proud of it.'

'You should,' he concurred, 'it's quite an achievement and, after all, it was your idea, wasn't it?'

'I guess,' she said then, as they stepped out of the turbolift, she added, 'Mr Scott, thank you.'

'For what?' he asked her looking confused.

'For not hating me,' she replied quite honestly, 'even though you are one of Jim's closest friends, you still manage to talk to me like you used to. I wasn't expecting that…after all, if that yeoman's attitude is anything to go by, I understand that I am not exactly welcome aboard the Enterprise.'

'What yeoman?' he asked her frowning then, without allowing her to reply, he figured it out and let out a chuckle, 'oh, I see, you've met the lovely Yeoman Rand.'

'Yes, you can say that,' Carol confirmed, 'she's got quite the crush on Jim, hasn't she?'

'That's an understatement,' Scotty replied, 'she's been smitten with him from day one.'

'That explains a lot,' Carol commented, 'she told me the guest rooms were all under renovation and insisted the only free room was one that's as far away from the Captain's quarters as it can be.'

'Well, you can't blame the poor thing,' Scotty reasoned.

'I'm not blaming her,' she hurried to explain, 'and I'm not surprised she'd act way she did but I just wish she understood she's got nothing to fear: whatever love Jim felt for me, it's all gone now.'

'I wouldn't be so sure,' Scotty cryptically said.

Carol wanted to ask him what he meant by that but their arrival at the ship's main storage area prevented her from doing it. Deciding to drop the subject, she just followed him into a large room where she immediately spotted the dark brown crate that contained the Genesis device.

Making sure Jimmy was still asleep, she rushed to the panel on the crate and, inputting her password, she started checking that all the levels picked up by the sensors installed inside were reporting normal values. She ran a scan on the box containing the very delicate core, holding her breath until the panel flashed an all-clear green.

'Is everything alright?' Scotty asked her.

'Yes,' she replied, 'I'm just going to open it to see that everything is still where it should be. Nothing seems to be wrong,' she quickly explained seeing his concerned look, 'but I'd rather have visual.'

'Of course,' Scotty said, 'I've got to go back to Engineering now, give us a shout when you're done.'

'I can go back by myself,' she ventured.

'No,' Scotty said shaking his head, 'I've got my orders: the Captain said he didn't want you or the wee one wandering around the ship unescorted so, be a good lass and don't test his patience, okay?'

'I understand,' Carol said trying to smile, 'I'll call you when I'm finished here.'

'Thanks,' Scotty replied sounding genuinely grateful. The man looked like he wanted to say something else but he clearly changed his mind and decided to walk out of the room instead.

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Captain Kirk had just finished listening to the audio recording from the distress call issued by the Reliant, a civilian cargo ship that was supposed to be heading to K-7.

'Play it again,' he ordered Uhura.

'Yes, sir,' she replied.

Soon static filled the speakers then, they heard the voice of a man who appeared to be in pain:

'My name is Gus Le Blanc, I'm an officer onboard the Reliant. Our crew has been infected by some disease we suspect came aboard with the last shipment we loaded. It has already killed our Captain and First Officers and, I fear, the rest of us won't last long. If you hear this, please help us, we…' the voice stopped speaking as he got hit by a violent coughing fit, 'please…help…please…'

That was the end of the message.

'Mr Sulu,' the Captain said, 'can you locate the Reliant?'

'Yes sir,' the helmsman replied, 'at our current speed, we're about 25 minutes away.'

'Take us up to warp 4, Mr Sulu,' Kirk said, 'those people might not have that long.'

'Yes, sir,' Sulu replied pressing the necessary buttons to comply with the order.

'Any luck hailing them?' he then asked Uhura who just shook her head looking very worried, 'okay,' he said then, he exchanged a quick glance with Spock who appeared to share his opinion that an intervention was probably necessary, 'we'll deploy an away team,' he announced looking back at his crew, 'Mr Sulu and…' he stopped speaking considering his options then, he glanced at his Russian Ensign and said, 'Mr Chekov, do you feel like stepping out of the ship for a bit?'

'Really?' the young man asked unable to hide his excitement.

'Yes,' Kirk replied smiling at him. Since Chekov's answer was clear, he pressed the button to activate the intercom at his armrest and said, 'Kirk to Medical, Dr McCoy, please gather supplies to treat a possible contagion and meet us with a couple of your nurses at the transporter in…five minutes.'

'What happened now?' was the doctor's highly unprofessional answer.

'Oh, just the usual,' Kirk replied unfazed, 'stranded ship, deadly infection, you know…'

'The fun never ends…' McCoy sardonically said making Kirk, and the rest of the bridge, smile.

'See you in five,' the Captain said closing the call.

'Captain,' he then heard Spock say as the Vulcan raised from his chair, 'given the circumstances, I should think it would be preferable if I led the away team so you could remain onboard the ship.'

Kirk stared at him for a moment then, he shook his head and said:

'No, Spock, I don't think that's a good idea.'

'But...'

'I think that, given the circumstances,' he said deliberately reusing Spock's own words, 'I think it's better if you stay onboard because, if anything goes south, there's no one who I trust more to make sure…the…circumstances, are kept safe. I'm sure I don't need to say anything else.'

Spock stared at him for a moment, his expression making it clear to Kirk that he understood very well what or, rather, who those circumstances were. Lowering his head in a minute nod, he said:

'Negative, Captain, I understand.'

'I knew you would,' Kirk replied confidently then, he added, 'speaking of,' he pressed the button on his armrest and said, 'Kirk to Engineering. Mr Scott, are you there?'

'Aye, Captain,' the Scotsman replied.

'Where is our guest?' Kirk asked him.

'I just accompanied her to the Storage Room 4,' Scott replied, 'Dr Marcus said she wanted to visually check the contents of the crate but that she'd let me know as soon as she's done.'

'Okay,' he said then, lowering his voice a notch, he asked, 'is my son with her?'

'Yes, Captain,' Scott replied, 'the wee one is sleeping like an angel.'

Kirk smiled a little before he said:

'That's good, thanks Scotty.'

He then turned quickly to glance at Spock to have one of their silent conversations. Kirk was glad to see that, as usual, he and his First Officer were on the same page, that the Vulcan had registered his conversation with the Chief Engineer in that prodigious memory of his and more importantly, he had just moved the Storage Room 4 on top of the list of locations which needed to be protected at all costs.

'Captain,' Sulu's voice brought him back to the task at hand, 'we've reached our destination.'

Kirk returned his attention to the viewscreen where he saw a mid-sized ship bearing the long rectangular design common to the cargo vessels of its kind. The Reliant seemed to be intact and, from his chair, Kirk could not see any signs of damage in its beige coloured hull.

'Damage report, Mr Chekov,' he ordered.

'None sir,' the Ensign replied, 'the engines seem to be functional but, they're turned off now.'

'Any signs of life?' he asked then.

'Yes, sir,' he happily replied, 'I get readings of at least nine different heartbeats. They're beating quite fast though,' he added frowning in worry, 'I think we should hurry, Captain.'

'We should,' he agreed, 'okay,' he said getting up from his chair, 'Mr Spock, you have the conn.'

'Yes, Captain,' the Vulcan said then, as an afterthought, he added, 'be careful.'

'You too,' Kirk replied flashing a brief smile at him.

Without needing to say anything to them, Kirk was followed by Sulu and a very excited Chekov. The Captain tried not to patronise him but he couldn't help but to find his enthusiasm most endearing and, made a mental note to involve him in more away missions since the kid was more than willing.

The three of them made it to the transporter where they found Dr McCoy and two male nurses, one of them, Kirk thought, looked large enough to be part of their security team. With an approving nod, he told his best friend he agreed with his choice.

'Are you alright?' the doctor asked him while the team got geared up.

'Yes, why wouldn't I be?' Kirk asked him.

'Well,' the doctor said lowering his voice, 'it's not every day one meets his son for the first time.'

Kirk glanced around the other people in the room, happy to see they were all too busy to be listening in, just in case, he too kept his tone low and with a voice barely above a whisper, he said:

'I don't have time to think about that right now.'

'Make sure you do find time then,' McCoy suggested, 'because you'll need to decide what to do about that.'

'I know,' Kirk said, 'I know,' he repeated sounding very serious.

'We're ready, Captain,' Sulu said interrupting their conversation.

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'put those bio-masks on and follow Dr McCoy's instructions to the letter. From now on and until further notice, his orders will overrule mine, is that clear?'

'Yes, sir,' Chekov and Sulu replied at the same time.

'Okay,' Kirk said, 'let's do this.'

The six of them stepped onto the transporter's pads and, once they were all ready, Kirk signalled the girl manning the transporter ordering her to: 'energise!' A moment later, they found themselves surrounded by the sort of dimmed lights that made it crystal clear something terrible had happened onboard this poor ship. They hadn't even stepped out of their transporter when they saw a man lying on the ground. Dr McCoy was quickest to react and, crouching next to him, he started searching for a pulse.

'He's dead, Jim,' the doctor announced.

'I feared as much,' Kirk said, 'can you tell what he died of?'

'No,' he replied, 'but I can tell you this wasn't a virus, this man wasn't sick when he died.'

'Stay alert,' Kirk ordered them, 'Bones, lead the way, I'll cover you.'

'Right,' the doctor replied sounding all but confident.

Kirk was too invested in the mission to take offence and soon enough, the group started moving along a narrow corridor where they found three more bodies, all dead from what seemed the same unknown cause, the Captain threw a quick glance at Chekov but was happy to see the kid was holding up just fine. With nothing else to worry about, Kirk followed McCoy into what looked like the ship's recreational room where they found another man lying on a couch. He was still alive.

'Please…help me…' the poor soul said.

'What's your name?' Dr McCoy asked him as soon as they reached him.

'Gus,' he replied weakly, 'my name is Gus.'

'You're the one who sent the distress signal, aren't you?' Kirk asked him gently.

'Yes…' Gus replied.

'What happened in here?' McCoy asked him next.

'It was terrible…' the man said looking as if he was going to start crying.

'It's alright,' Kirk tried to reassure him, 'we're here to help you now, where are the rest of the crew?'

'They'll be here soon,' the man replied.

Kirk was about to question the strange answer when a couple of phaser shots hit the two poor nurses, guilty only of having stood too close to the entrance, killing them instantly. Before any of them they could react, the _crew_ stormed into the room: an entire unit of Klingon warriors, armed to their teeth and looking like they'd struck jackpot.

'Welcome aboard, Captain Kirk,' their leader said offering him a horrible looking smile.

_To be continued…_


	5. Chapter Four

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Four_

The only thing Kirk achieved testing his restrains was some nasty friction burns on both of his wrists thus, he stopped struggling against the leather rope and decided to glare at the Klingon who kept them captive. After their ambush, the Klingon had forced them to move to the ship's bridge, lining the four of them up facing the viewscreen as if they were guests of honour in some sick show. From there, he tried glancing over at his three fellow officers, noting that poor Chekov looked pastier than ever. Kirk returned his attention at the Klingon leader and dared to ask:

'Who are you? And what do you want with us?'

The warrior studied him for a moment before he let out a grutural sounding laugh. Kirk had definitely not missed that horrible noise.

'I was told you had spirit,' the Klingon taunted him.

'By whom?' Kirk insisted with his questions.

'My friend Kor,' the Klingon surprisingly replied, 'he died in battle, with honour, unlike our other friend Koloth.' He stopped speaking as if the memory actually hurt him, 'but of course, you know nothing of that.'

'No, I don't,' Kirk confirmed.

'A human!' the Klingon spat with disgust, 'a HUMAN killed my friend so that he could come after your ship.'

Kirk didn't understand at first but, digging deeper in his mind, he finally made the connection.

'Khan,' was all he needed to say. McCoy, Sulu and Chekov all went to stare at him, 'his name was Khan.'

'I know,' the Klingon said, 'it took me months to find out but, when I did, I promised myself I would one day find you so I could take revenge for the wrong you and your crew caused to my kind.'

This must have been part of the twisted Klingon logic for Kirk failed to understand how he was in any way responsible of the death of a Klingon he had never even met. Again, with much bigger problems at hand, he quickly sweeped that one under the carpet and decided to focus his attention on the present predicament.

'So, what are you planning on doing to us?' Kirk asked him full of bravado.

'Don't be so impatient,' the Klingon said almost as if he was having fun, 'first, I need something from you.'

'What is it?' Kirk asked him.

The warrior stared at him for a while as if he was trying to decide how to approach the situation then, he made a gesture to the human called Gus who was standing nearby along with the rest of the Klingons. The man walked confidently in front of Kirk, swaggering like he was the king of the world.

'This human is certain you have a device onboard your ship along with its inventor.'

Kirk felt his eyes widen with shock and a large dose of fear.

'Is this true?' the Klingon asked him.

'I…'

'Don't bother lying mate,' Gus interrupted him, 'I saw it with my own eyes how that sweet little thing loaded it on the shuttle headed to your ship. You know,' he added with a vicious sneer, 'she was a real cutie, I cannot wait to see her again, if you know what I mean…'

Seeing red with a sudden burst of fury, Kirk tried to get up so he could attack that bastard. Two Klingons came out of nowhere pushing him down and kicking him on his ribs as punishment for the insurrection.

'You stay away from her!' he barked at him instead, 'I swear to God if you…'

'Oh, oh, wait,' Gus suddenly said, he lowered himself right next to Kirk as to be at his same level and, after looking at his face for a bit, he announced with an absurdly happy voice, 'I knew it. From the moment I saw you I knew I had seen your eyes before. Her kid…he's got your eyes…hell he looks exactly like you…'

It took every ounce of willpower for Kirk not to try to literally bite his head off.

'You're that kid's father, aren't you?' Gus asked him having the time of his life.

'Enough,' the Klingon said grabbing Gus by his arm and pulling him away from a murderous looking Kirk.

'Master, I just got you another bargaining chip,' Gus told him sounding like he expected some reward for it.

The Klingon glanced at him for a moment, he then pulled a large knife out of his belt and, without giving anyone the time to think, he proceeded to calmly slice the man's neck, cutting it as if it was made of butter.

Gus dropped dead right next to Kirk who, in all honesty, didn't feel at all sorry.

'He just outlived his usefulness,' the Klingon told them with the same tone one reported the weather.

Trying not to look at the blood pooling right next to his feet, Kirk glanced at the Klingon and asked again:

'Who are you?'

'I am Captain Kang,' he finally supplied.

'You know I cannot give you what you want,' Kirk said.

'Well,' Kang said, 'that depends on what you've got to lose, doesn't it?'

'I…'

'Take a look,' Kang invited him with an out of place cordiality.

Following his hand, Kirk saw the Klingon was pointing at the viewscreen and there, he saw something that made him feel like his world had just lost its bottom: surrounding the Enterprise, he saw six uncloaking Klingon warbirds. Studying them more carefully, he realised they were of a kind he'd never seen before.

'Impressive, aren't they?' Kang asked him sounding very pleased.

'They…' he tried then, clearing his throat, he tried using his cockiest tone, 'we can blow them up, you know?'

'Really?' the Klingon Captain asked looking vaguely amused.

'My First Officer will destroy them as soon as he sees them,' Kirk assured him.

'I'd like to see that,' Kang taunted him, 'in fact, why don't you try ordering him to do it?'

Kirk stole a quick glance at his officers: they looked every bit as confused as he felt. Especially Chekov.

'Come on,' Kang said grabbing one of the confiscated communicators, 'go on, issue the order.'

Since Kirk had his hands tied at his back, the Klingon was actually kind enough to press the button himself.

'Kirk to Spock,' the Captain said speaking into the device.

'Captain,' the Vulcan's voice replied, 'we have confirmed visual of at least six Klingon warbirds.'

'I know,' Kirk said, 'I'm seeing them too.'

'We have attempted to employ the Romulan frequency to no avail,' Spock informed him.

'I told you,' Kang said with the Klingon equivalent of a singsong tone.

'Who is that, Captain?' Spock was heard asking.

'We're being held hostages by…'

Another kick prevented him from finishing the sentence while Kang angrily threw the communicator onto the ground, stepping on it as if he was trying to vent his frustration on the thing instead of doing it on Kirk.

'You shouldn't have said that,' the Klingon grunted narrowing his clear green eyes at him, 'I was even thinking of sparing your ship but now…now you have given me no choice,' he said somehow managing to look said, he then unclipped a Klingon communicator and was going to press its button when Kirk stopped him.

'Wait! What do you want to do with the device?' he asked trying to buy some precious time to think.

'Do you know what it does?' Kang asked instead.

'No, not really,' Kirk admitted regretting not having asked Carol about it.

'It's a really ingenious little thing,' Kang said, 'according to our…former collaborator,' he said pointing at Gus, 'the machine is designed to trigger a chain reaction that can accelerate the terraforming process on a planet but, if the documents he stole for us are correct, our engineers said we could use it in reverse.'

'What the hell do you mean by that?' McCoy asked speaking for the first time.

'They can start a chain reaction that will destroy all life on a planet,' Kirk answered him instead.

'Correct, Captain Kirk,' Kang said sounding like a proud teacher.

'You're going to use it on Earth,' Kirk said refusing to succumb to his constant bullying.

'Only half-correct, this time,' the Klingon said looking disappointed, 'we'll get there, eventually, but first we must repay the Romulans for the humiliation we have been suffering at their hands for nearly three years and, what better way to do that than to destroy the very planet they betrayed us for?'

'You're going to destroy Romulus?' McCoy asked him.

'Yes, we are,' Kang confirmed, 'but first, you must hand us the device and its inventor.'

'No,' Kirk immediately replied, 'no way, that's just not going to happen.'

'I think it will, Captain Kirk,' the Klingon said, 'you know why I think that? Because I think you don't want me to destroy your ship with your crew onboard. And that is what I will order my fleet to do if you don't order your ship to lower your shields so that we can come onboard. And after I have forced you to watch while I blow the Enterprise to smithereens, I will also force you to watch while we kill your men as slowly as we can, and then...then we'll kill you.'

Against his will, Kirk found himself swallowing hard.

'I…I need time to think,' he finally confessed.

'Okay,' the Klingon said as if he was willing to be reasonable, 'you have thirty seconds from…now.'

Kirk's brain was simply overloaded: he could not accept having the Klingons destroy the Enterprise but he also couldn't accept having the Klingons come onboard, steal the device and kidnap the mother of his child. Feeling the clock ticking, he glanced at McCoy for help.

'I'm sorry,' the doctor said out loud, 'either choice sucks,' he added, 'but…'

The Captain didn't need his best friend to complete the sentence for, in his mind and as much as he hated the option, he had already figured out that he had to pick the lesser of the two evils.

If he didn't comply with his request, Kang would destroy the Enterprise, including Carol and their two year old son. If he did, Kang would take Carol and the device to Romulus, which would put her in mortal danger. Kirk could only guess that the Klingons needed her alive, but for how long? Long enough for him to rescue her, Kirk fervently hoped.

'Your decision,' Kang demanded.

Once again, Kirk exchanged a meaningful look with McCoy and then, glaring at the Klingon, he said:

'Alright, I'll order them to lower the shields.'

'Smart move,' Captain Kang nodded approvingly.

Less than five minutes later, after he'd been forced to issue the hardest order of his career, Kirk impotently watched as all the Klingons marched out of the bridge, closing the door behind them. Then, to their horror, they heard some phaser blasts frying the console which controlled the opening mechanism, leaving them trapped inside.

'Dammit!' Kirk shouted his frustration.

Meanwhile, on the Enterprise's bridge, Spock had just proceeded to comply with his Captain's instructions. He remained outwardly calm but, inside, he was racking his brain trying to figure out what had happened onboard the Reliant to force Kirk to issue such an alarming order. Ruling out a number of possibilities that he considered too far-fetched, he ultimately reached the conclusion that it surely was related to Dr Marcus and the device she had brought onboard. For this reason, he looked at Mitchell and said:

'Lieutenant Commander, retrieve your phaser and come with me.'

'Yes, sir,' the tactical officer said.

'Uhura,' he then added glancing at the Communications Officer, 'you have the conn.'

'What?' she couldn't help but to ask.

'It will be just for a moment,' he promised her.

'Oh…okay,' she said tentatively rising from her seat. Slowly, she walked to the Captain's chair and sat on it.

'We shall return as soon as we can,' Spock told everyone, 'in the mean time, continue performing admirably.'

With that, the Vulcan grabbed his own phaser and, setting it to kill, he rushed out of the bridge with Mitchell doing his best to keep up with him. While the two of them ran, Spock told him what he needed to do:

'Go to the Storage Room 4 and locate Dr Marcus and her son, you must accompany them to the ready room.'

'What are you going to do?' Mitchell asked him.

'I am heading to the transporter,' Spock replied, 'I shall endeavour to slow them down as much as possible.'

'You'll be killed!' Mitchell exclaimed.

'I certainly hope not,' Spock replied as calmly as ever, 'but if that is the case, then you must find Mr Scott, he is third in command and must take charge of the ship. Organise whatever defences you can and, if at all possible, scan the Reliant, try to find out if the Captain and the rest of the away team are still alive.'

Mitchell found himself unable to believe the First Officer could talk about stuff like that with such aplomb but, oddly enough, he didn't think Spock was crazy. For some reason, he found his even tone quite soothing.

'Understood, sir,' the officer replied.

They parted ways with Spock continuing to the transporter and Mitchell racing down to the storage section of the ship. The Vulcan arrived at his destination just in time to watch the Klingons materialising onboard. Knowing he could not stop eight fully armed Klingons all by himself, he opted for diplomacy instead:

'What's your business onboard this ship?'

'Now, now,' their leader said, 'I assume you are the First Officer?'

'Yes, I am,' Spock confirmed coolly.

'Good,' the Klingon said, 'in that case, you know we have your Captain's permission to come onboard.'

'I do,' Spock confirmed again, 'however, you still have to answer my query.'

'You will take us to the device you picked up on 25-Alpha, you will hand it over along with its inventor.'

Usually Spock liked being right but this time he really hated it.

'I understand,' he said as calmly as he could.

'Do not make this difficult on yourself,' the Klingon advised him, 'remember we still have our fleet pointing their cannons at you. One order from me and the entire ship will get blown to pieces. You understand?'

'Yes,' Spock replied, 'please follow me,' he then added.

He knew very well he was risking his life by doing this but, making a conscious effort, he led the way walking as slowly as he could, hoping that this way he would obtain enough time for Mitchell to get Jimmy and Carol to safety. In spite of that, he reached the Storage Room 4 only a few short minutes later.

'Oh, how convenient,' he heard the Klingon say.

Spock stared inside the room with disbelief and a lot of frustration seeing that Carol was still there.

'Dr Marcus,' he chastised her, 'I…'

'I'm sorry,' the doctor stopped him, 'I know what you tried to do and, I thank you for it but we both know what was in Jim's mind the moment he let them come aboard,' she said pointing at the Klingon, 'all I ask is that you keep Jimmy safe,' she added and, for a brief moment, he saw such raw pain that it reminded him of the way his Captain had looked at him when Carol had left him, 'please,' she continued, 'take care of him until you get his father back onboard.'

'I will,' he found himself promising.

'Thank you,' she said then, she squared her tiny shoulders and, glaring at the Klingons, she said, 'I will come with you but, just so you know, if you harm anyone onboard this ship, or the members of the away team, I will make you all wish you had never been born.'

'And how are you going to do that?' the Klingon leader asked.

'You really don't want to know the answer to that,' she warned him.

The Klingon glanced at the universal translator he was carrying as though he refused to believe what he'd just heard. He checked with one of his soldiers, asking him to confirm what she'd said. He did and the Klingon leader looked at Carol with a degree of admiration in his eyes:

'For a puny human,' he said, 'you show the spirit of one of our females. For this, I have decided we will grant you an honourable death but now, it is time for us to depart,' he added pulling his communicator out.

'Wait,' Carol stopped him suddenly looking worried, 'you cannot beam the device out of this ship.'

'Why not?' the Klingon asked her.

'The core is unstable,' she replied, 'even the tiniest molecular modification might start a potentially lethal chain reaction and…'

'That's a risk I am prepared to accept,' the Klingon said, 'now, we have wasted enough time.'

As if proving his point, he grasped her arm and, pulling her towards him, he barked an order to his communicator. Carol barely had the time to look at Spock one last time, then she was gone, along with the Genesis device and the Klingon leader.

'Now,' another of the warriors told Spock, 'take us to the bridge.'

'Why?' Spock asked him.

'You will take us to our next target,' the Klingon answered, 'planet Earth.'

_To be continued…_


	6. Chapter Five

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Five_

From the Captain's chair, Uhura saw Mitchell bursting onto the bridge carrying Jimmy in his arms while the little boy clutched Teddy in his tiny hands as if he were afraid of losing it. The officer had discarded the pushchair for it was slowing him down while he raced to his destination and now he had finally reached it, he looked like he didn't know what to do.

'Where is Dr Marcus?' Uhura asked him.

'She stayed with her device,' Mitchell replied sounding slightly out of breath, 'she begged me to take him to safety,' he added clearly referring to Jimmy, 'we have a bunch of Klingons onboard and Commander Spock was going to slow them down and…I…'

'Alright,' Uhura said taking charge, 'get Jimmy into the ready room, we'll do what we can to stop them from coming into the bridge but, if they do, his safety is your priority, hide if you have to, okay?'

'What about you?' the tactical officer asked her.

'Let us worry about us,' she replied tersely, 'now, go!'

Without needing to be asked twice, Mitchell rushed across the bridge and exited it through the door that connected it with the Captain's ready room. Once there, he sat down and tried his best to keep the frightened boy distracted so that he would not start crying. While he did this, Mitchell thought of the absurdity of the situation he found himself in: there were Klingons onboard and he was there, acting as a babysitter to a little boy he had literally just met.

Meanwhile, Uhura also found herself in a position she had never been before and, for the first time, she realised just how difficult Captain Kirk's job when she suddenly became the centre of everyone's attention. With a pang, she realised that the reason they were all looking at her was because they were all waiting for her instructions.

'Okay,' she said speaking to the officer covering for Chekov, 'we need to get the away team back from the Reliant.'

'I've already tried, ma'am,' the young man confessed, 'but the shields are up so we can't use our transporter.'

'What about the comms?' she then asked the girl covering her own station.

'They're offline,' she replied, 'Captain Kirk's is reported as destroyed.'

Swallowing and trying not to panic, she glanced back at the navigator and said:

'Issue a ship-wide alert, on displays only, warning everyone we have Klingons onbard, order them to protect all critical areas, especially the Weapons Bay and Engineering, get Mr Scott to lock down the whole area if he can.'

'Yes, ma'am,' the man replied.

To the Acting Communications Officer, she said:

'Send a message to Starfleet: we are being hijacked by Klingons and we are requesting assistance. The command of the Enterprise might be compromised so they must list it as unfriendly effective immediately. When you're done, forward the same message to the Romulans, all channels all frequencies. Hurry up, we don't have a lot of time.'

'Yes, ma'am,' the girl replied getting her head down to complete the task as quickly as she could.

'Everyone else,' Uhura then finished, 'prepare your stations, those of you with clearance, get your phasers ready and set them to kill.'

She had just finished issuing her last order when the door which gave access to the bridge opened with a swishing sound. Looking at it from the chair, she saw two Klingons half-carrying a beaten up and barely conscious Spock.

'Spo…' she said getting up from the chair.

'I am fine,' he tried reassuring her.

He failed. Uhura knew him too well to know that _fine_ was not an acceptable word for the Vulcan.

'As you can see,' one of the Klingons said straightening up the Commander, 'you have no choice.'

'What do you want from us?' Uhura was brave enough to ask in Klingon.

The warrior looked impressed for a moment then, he ordered her to tell him who the helmsman was. Uhura hesitated only for a moment then, after exchanging a worried look with Spock, she pointed at the Andorian who was now filling in for Sulu, 'set course for Earth,' the Klingon ordered him.

The Lieutenant looked at Uhura first then, at Spock and only after he got their approval, he entered the sequence of commands which would take their ship to Earth. He only hesitated when he placed his blue hand on top of the lever that would send Enterprise into warp for, he knew, it would leave the Captain and the rest of the away team stranded in the middle of nowhere.

'Go ahead,' Uhura forced herself to order him.

With a light punch, the officer took them into warp.

At the same time but onboard the Reliant, Kirk and McCoy had managed to get up leaning against each other and, a still tied up Sulu, was trying to untie Kirk's restrains using his teeth while Chekov remained sitting down, as if the shock had frozen him in place. Kirk was about to order him to snap out of it when he heard McCoy swear.

'What…'

He never finished the question because, just as it had happened with the six Klingon warbirds a moment before, he watched the Enterprise entering warp, leaving only twin brilliant blue trails where the ship had previously been. A heavy silence fell upon them and even Sulu stopped struggling with Kirk's ropes. Ruling out the possibility that Spock had gone insane and had decided to leave them there, Kirk could only reach another, more viable but also infinitely more terrifying conclusion: the Klingon had stolen his ship.

'_Ё моё_!' Chekov suddenly exclaimed.

Kirk, McCoy and Sulu jerked their heads to stare at him to see if the poor boy had finally cracked up when, to their profound stupor, they saw that the Russian Ensign had managed to get rid of his restrains.

'That's why you were so quiet!' Sulu exclaimed looking proudly at his friend.

'I don't think they tied them as tight as yours,' he explained while he got busy freeing the three other men them up, 'since I don't look so strong, maybe the Klingons didn't consider me that much of a threat.'

'Well, that was their mistake,' Kirk said rubbing his sore wrists.

'Yeah,' Sulu agreed.

'And now how the hell are we going to get out of here?' McCoy asked pointing at the fried door.

Kirk didn't answer that, instead, he and Chekov went to inspect the console and, without having to tell him, the Captain saw his junior officer scanning the bridge, looking for something he could use to pry the cover open. He then rushed to the other end of the bridge to the navigator's station. Under the console, Chekov retrieved a basic but incredibly useful set of tools.

'I also keep one under my seat on the Enterprise,' he explained to his stunned companions, 'mine is better though: it was a present from Mr Scott for my 21st birthday,' he added while he got a long screwdriver out of the box and, before anyone could come up with an appropriate response, he started working on the console as quickly as he could. Within a few minutes, the door was released.

'Well done,' Kirk told him patting him on his shoulder.

Blushing a little, Chekov flashed a happy smile. Then, the four of them hurried to the transporter trying to ignore the multiple bodies they found along the way. When they arrived, it was clear that they weren't going to be able to beam out of there.

'They used explosives!' Sulu exclaimed after a quick assessment of the badly damaged console.

'Can you fix this?' McCoy asked Chekov who shrugged his shoulders and said:

'With a little time, yes.'

'Okay,' Kirk told him, 'you can work on this, Sulu and I will try to get the engines running, Bones, go back to the bridge and try to get in contact with Starfleet. Tell them what's happened in here and ask them to send reinforcements. Also, see if you can reach one of the Romulan outposts, they need to know about the device and what the Klingon intend to do with it.'

'Dammit man,' McCoy complained, 'I'm a doctor not a…'

'Right now,' Kirk stopped him, 'you _are_ our Communications Officer so, get on with it.'

'Shouldn't we try hailing the Enterprise?' Sulu asked him.

'No,' Kirk replied, 'if I'm right, Spock is no longer in command aboard the ship. If we hail them, they will know we've freed ourselves and will send a warbird to destroy us. As much as it pains me to say this, we must leave the Enterprise alone and hope Spock can come up with a plan to take her back.'

'Okay,' Sulu accepted.

'Now,' Kirk said, 'we all have our jobs, let's get them done as quickly as we can.'

He and Sulu found the Engineering section a couple of decks below the bridge. It was infinitely smaller than the one on the Enterprise but still, it was large enough for Kirk and Sulu to feel suddenly lost. Soon enough, the two started looking for the console that controlled the engines, finding it in between what looked like the two massive reactors that powered the ship. Looking down at the display, Kirk saw something that made his heart sink even further.

'Captain…' Sulu started.

'I know,' Kirk replied without letting him finish the sentence.

'If those readings are accurate,' the helmsman insisted, 'I don't think we have enough fuel to take us to Romulus, heck, we might not even make it to the Romulan border!'

Kirk didn't say anything to that, instead, he turned his back on the console, leaning against it while he considered what options they had. Scouring his brain, he tried remembering what little he'd read about cargo ships and the way their backup systems worked. He knew that some civilian vessels kept a reserve somewhere that, in case of an emergency, it would allow them to reach the nearest outpost.

'Give me a minute,' he told Sulu while he started looking around the room for something that would point him in the right direction. Leaving the helmsman standing there, Kirk ran along the different walkways that covered the area and, just as he was about to give up, he saw a smaller console with the sign he'd been searching for: _Auxiliary Power Station_.

'SULU!' he shouted, 'I'VE FOUND IT!'

The helmsman rushed there as quickly as he could and, even before he could speak, Kirk ordered him:

'Re-route as much power from here to the main console, I will go and try to start up the engines.'

'Aye, Captain,' Sulu said.

Ten minutes later, the power cycle had been completed and both the Reliant engines seemed to be up and running. Surprisingly enough, nothing in Engineering looked like it was about to blow up.

'Let's head up,' Kirk told Sulu.

Climbing up the stairs, two steps at the time, the two of them ran past the transporter where they saw Chekov half-hidden under the console. Without time to stop and ask him for a status update, the two of them sped along the corridors. They had barely set foot on the bridge when, coming from the ship's audio system, they heard a very familiar sounding voice:

'Captain, do you copy?'

The three of them stared at each other in disbelief then, rushing to McCoy's station, Kirk said:

'Scotty, it's me, we're here!'

'Oh thank God for that,' the Engineer said sounding incredibly relieved.

'Where are you?' Kirk asked him, 'your voice sounds weird.'

'That's because I'm bloody hiding in one of the bloody Jeffrey's tubes!' the man exclaimed.

'What's happening on our ship?' Kirk asked him.

'The Klingons have the conn,' Scotty said revealing nothing they didn't already suspect, 'Commander Spock and the rest of the bridge crew have been locked up in the ready room, don't worry Captain, wee Jimmy is in there with them.'

Kirk felt himself letting out a sigh of relief.

'One of the Klingons took Dr Marcus and her device,' the Engineer said again not revealing anything new, 'there's a transponder installed in the crate carrying it. I know its frequency and I could track it but we didn't see the warning on time and now a damned Klingon has taken my place in Engineering. With the whole bridge crew held hostage, it's not like we can retaliate, is it?'

'Scotty…'

'Fear not Captain,' the older man said, 'Keenser and I have a plan but, for it to work, we must not be seen. I called you so that I could send you the frequency hoping you could track it yourselves, it was far-fetched since I didn't know if you'd be...well, I didn't know if I would manage to find you but I didn't know what else to do.'

'It was a good move,' Kirk assured him, 'please send us the frequency and we'll take it from there.'

'Alright,' Scotty replied, 'stand by,' he said while he keyed in the right code.

'You said you and Keenser have a plan,' Sulu commented while McCoy received the information.

'Yes,' Scotty confirmed, 'I'm not sure if we'll manage but we're going to try to cause an accident that'll drop us out of warp.'

'You're what?' Kirk asked sounding alarmed.

'I know,' Scotty said, 'I hate doing this to her but it's the only way I can stop her. Maybe, while those brainless orks try to figure out what's gone wrong, it'll buy enough time for Commander Spock to come up with a plan and regain command of our ship.'

'Nice thinking,' Kirk acknowledged, 'please hang in there Scotty, we've already asked for help.'

'I'll do what I can, Captain, I'll do what I can,' the older man promised, 'Scotty out.'

'Where is she?' was the first thing Kirk wanted to know.

'Er…' the doctor hesitated concentrating on the console, 'I'm not entirely sure…I'm not exactly a navigator now, I am?'

'Send the coordinates to the helmsman station,' Kirk ordered him, 'Sulu, as soon as you can, set course to that location.'

'Aye, Captain,' the Lieutenant replied sitting down on the pilot's seat. Once there, he took a quick look at the data McCoy had just sent him confronting it against the starmap the ship came equipped with, when his brow creased in a very deep frown.

'What's wrong?' Kirk asked him.

'Sir,' Sulu said, 'we can't go there, it's an asteroid.'

'So?' McCoy asked him from his seat.

'If it were a planet, or a moon, we could try and approach it from the right angle and reach the place unseen,' Sulu explained, 'with something as small as that, there's nowhere to hide. In other words…'

'We're screwed,' McCoy said.

Kirk pinched the bridge of his nose while he paced nervously in front of the Captain's chair.

'We could wait until Chekov fixes the transporter,' Sulu suggested, 'if I take us close enough, we could beam down there, find Dr Marcus and then...'

'No,' Kirk stopped him, 'it might take too long and who knows what they're doing to her.'

'Jim…'

'Bones,' he interrupted him too, 'you remember what they did to me, don't you?' he asked him rhetorically, 'there's no way I'll let them do anything like that to Carol. We must get her out of there now.'

Then, without telling anyone where he was going, he rushed out of the bridge leaving McCoy and Sulu at a loss about what had just happened. They got their answer a few minutes later when Kirk re-appeared carrying what looked suspiciously like one of those booster powered EV suits.

'Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you are,' McCoy practically begged him.

'I am,' Kirk said confirming his worst fears, 'Sulu, you will take us as close as you can but, instead of beaming down, I will jump from here to the base then, once Carol is free, we can hide and wait until Chekov's done fixing the transporter.'

'Are you nuts?' Dr McCoy asked him.

'No,' Kirk replied calmly, 'I've done this enough times to know it will work. I just need Sulu to put us in a position so that the jump can be done in a straight line. This will afford me more autonomy since I won't have to use the boosters to change direction.'

'You can't do this alone,' Sulu said all of a sudden.

'Sulu…'

'Captain,' he interrupted him, 'I too have experience with this, remember?'

Kirk found himself smiling at him and, nodding, he said:

'Okay, let's do this.'

'You two are nuts,' the doctor diagnosed, 'and if you think I'll help...'

'You _will _have to help,' Kirk reminded him, 'who do you think is going to open the hatch for us?'

McCoy just glared at him, aware he could do nothing else to stop this madness.

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter Six

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Six_

Using the first aid kit Dr McCoy wisely kept in the ready room, often so that he could provide basic treatment to Kirk in the too many occasions when their Captain had got hurt during a mission and still rebelled against his CMO by refusing to go to sickbay, Uhura did what she could to clean the cuts that covered Spock's bruised face, courtesy of the Klingons that were currently in command of the Enterprise. Meanwhile, Mitchell was still on babysitting duty together with a very reluctant Yeoman Rand.

'I assure you this is not necessary,' the Vulcan said showing he was every bit as careless as Kirk when it came to his own wellbeing.

'Yes, it is,' Uhura told him using some gauze to carefully apply some antiseptic on his split lip. Disposing of the used tissue, she took the dermal regenerator, feeling a little uneasy when she saw the two Klingon who were guarding the room getting closer to them and readying their huge rifles.

'It's just a medical tool!' she said impatiently using their language, 'step back, you're scaring him!'

They followed her gesture with their eyes which landed on little Jimmy. Mitchell had been successful in keeping him distracted but the new commotion managed to get his attention away from the funny faces the officer was making at him and, keeping his huge blue eyes fixed on the two warriors, he climbed down from his chair, escaping from Mitchell's grasp before the poor man could do anything to stop him.

'Jimmy!' he exclaimed.

Ignoring him, the boy started walking towards the two Klingon, observing them with the fearless curiosity typical from his age. He had got within touching distance when Uhura decided he was close enough and, with one swift move, she scooped him in her arms, taking him away from the warriors.

'It's dangerous,' she tried explaining to the toddler, 'don't get too close or they will hurt you.'

'Hurt?' the kid asked her while she sat back down on a chair next to the one occupied by Spock.

'Yes, sweetie,' Uhura explained to him, 'and we cannot let you get hurt, do you understand?'

Jimmy nodded once and then, as if he'd just realised someone was missing, he said:

'Where's Mummy?'

Uhura, along with the rest of the people in the room, felt their heart sink.

'Mummy is not here now,' she explained, 'but she'll be back very, very soon, I promise.'

'Mummy work?' he asked her looking very serious.

'Something like that,' Uhura replied flashing him a smile, 'but while she's gone, we're all here to look after you,' she explained, 'my name is Nyota. Ny-o-ta,' she repeated, 'why don't you try saying it?'

'Notah,' the kid obliged.

'That's close enough,' Uhura accepted then, pointing at Spock, she said, 'this is Commander Spock.'

'Pok,' the kid tried then, staring at the Vulcan, he pointed at himself and said, 'Jimmy.'

Spock looked at a loss about what to do but then, prompted by a silent look from Uhura, he said:

'Hello, Jimmy.'

'Hello Pok,' the kid replied sounding happy then, turning to Uhura, he repeated her name, 'Notah.'

'That's right,' she said ruffling his soft blond hair; 'you're a very smart boy, aren't you?'

Jimmy grinned at her making his resemblance with his father even more pronounced and, judging by the slight eyebrow twitch she saw on Spock's face, the Vulcan was thinking the same exact thing.

Just then, the kid pushed himself away from Uhura and started trying to climb into Spock's lap.

'No Jimmy,' Uhura said doing her best to stop him, 'Spock is hurt.'

'Hurt?' he asked again, his little smile gone and seriousness returning to his features.

'Yes, sweetie,' Uhura patiently replied, 'he's hurt and if you…'

The little boy interrupted her sentence by getting out from her grasp and, just as he'd originally planned, he stepped onto Spock's lap. While it wasn't visible, Uhura suspected the Vulcan was inwardly panicking.

'Pok no hurts,' the boy said balancing himself on top of Spock's legs while grabbing one of his shoulders with one tiny hand. With the other, he went to touch one of the greenish bruises that had appeared on the Vulcan's face. Uhura observed wide-eyed the moment when, leaning forward a bit, Jimmy placed a light kiss on it.

'I think he's kissing it better,' Uhura hurried to explain fearing this would confuse Spock.

'I am aware of this human custom,' the Vulcan calmly said while looking at her, 'it is often performed by human parents when their offspring becomes injured. I have experienced it once before.'

Uhura realised that Spock was speaking of his own mother and, for a wild moment, she allowed herself to imagine a little Spock getting a scrapped knee and Amanda kissing it better. It was an unbelievably adorable picture.

'I see,' she replied trying to keep her emotions off her voice.

'Jimmy sleepy,' the boy suddenly announced rubbing his eyes with his fist as if to make a point. Uhura went to pick the kid up but then, to their surprise, he just snuggled himself against Spock's body and, making sure Teddy was still there, he placed a hand on top of the Vulcan's chest as if he wanted to feel his heartbeat. Then, he closed his eyes and a few moments later, the boy was fast asleep.

'Fascinating,' Spock muttered, lowering his gaze to study the kid.

Giving up her attempt at healing Spock, Uhura limited herself to stare at the strange, yet utterly heart-warming picture she had before her. Something in it made Uhura forget everything that was going on around her: her fellow bridge crewmembers that feared for their lives; the two deadly Klingon who threatened them and even the fact that their ship had been hijacked for only goodness knew what evil purpose.

For a few precious minutes, she could only see Spock and the little boy in his arms.

'Nyota,' the Vulcan called her using a tone just above a whisper. She just stared at his human eyes and waited for him to continue, 'long ago, when we were still pursuing an emotional relationship, I calculated that according to our psychological profiles and based on our different cultural backgrounds, we had ninety seven point eight percent likelihood to form a successful parenting team.'

Uhura felt her eyes widen with surprise finding it hard to process what she'd just heard.

'Spock…'

'I am fully aware that the circumstances have varied since then,' he continued, 'but this specific statistic has remained unchanged. I merely wished to convey this information to you.'

Uhura was about to ask him what she could do with it when Jimmy woke up with a start, as if he'd just had a really bad nightmare. The room filled with trepidation as they all watched the boy frantically glancing around himself, becoming visibly upset when he couldn't find what he was looking for.

'Mummy!' he shouted all of a sudden.

Spock tried to calm him down the best way he could but the toddler had become inconsolable and soon, he crunched his little face and before anyone could do anything to prevent it, he burst into tears while he continued calling for his mother becoming even more upset when she failed to show up.

'Jimmy, 'Uhura said taking him up in her arms rubbing his back in what she hoped was a soothing manner, 'sweetie, mummy is not here, she's…'

'I want Mummy!' the boy insisted.

'I know, baby, I know,' a desperate Uhura said, 'but she's not here right now…'

'Mummy!' Jimmy wailed again, his sobbing getting louder and louder as he became more distressed.

'Guys,' they heard Yeoman Rand speaking over the boy's anxious cries, 'look at them…'

Spock, Uhura, Mitchell and the others glanced at the two Klingon warriors who, for some bizarre reason, were holding their heads as though as they were terribly sore. Spock was the first to understand that something in the frequency of Jimmy's crying was causing them physical pain.

After exchanging a quick look with Mitchell, the two of them got up from their chairs and, while Uhura hurried to get Jimmy out of the way, they launched against the two warriors, easily knocking them off their feet. Before they could realise what had hit them, they found themselves at the wrong end of their own weapons. Mitchell was going to pull the trigger when Spock shook his head and said:

'We shall not harm them.'

'But Commander…'

'We will temporarily disable them,' Spock said and, before Mitchell could ask how, the Vulcan took care while crouching next to the two fallen Klingons and, after applying a nerve pinch on one of them, the other was forced to see his fellow warrior become as limp as a wilted flower. Then, with surgical precision, Spock repeated the exercise on the other Klingon who quickly became as unconscious as the first.

'What do we do now?' the tactical officer asked him.

Spock never answered the question for, right at that moment, the entire ship jolted up in such an unpleasantly abrupt way everyone instantly identified it as an unexpected drop from warp. The sudden movement sent them all to their knees and Uhura had a lot of trouble trying to keep Jimmy in her grasp. On the plus side, the whole incident had managed to make him stop crying.

'Retrieve the weapon,' Spock ordered Mitchell, 'and follow me. The rest of you will remain here.'

Knowing their time was limited to seconds, both officers hurried out of the room, catching the other three Klingons who currently occupied the bridge by surprise. Spock trained the Klingon rifle on their leader while Mitchell kept the other two under his own control.

'Stand up,' Spock ordered the Klingon.

Slowly getting up from near the Captain's chair, the warrior threw a death glare at the Vulcan.

While this happened, Uhura decided to, for the first time in her life, disobey a direct order. She hurried to Yeoman Rand and was about to hand Jimmy over to her so that she could go and help Spock when the younger girl took a step back and, nervously glancing at the little boy, she asked Uhura:

'Why are you giving him to me?'

'You pick,' Uhura snapped at her, 'take care of Jimmy, or go and fight the Klingons.'

The answer to that was obvious and a moment later, Rand found herself with the boy in her arms.

On her way out, the Communications Officer grabbed one of the knives that Spock had taken away from the unconscious Klingons, then, she joined Spock and Mitchell at the bridge, just in time for the moment when one of the two Klingons Mitchell was guarding, launched himself at him.

'Move!' she shouted at Mitchell while she threw the blade at the Klingon, stabbing him square on his chest.

As the warrior fell onto the ground, the two others glanced at each other and, a moment later, a quick but deadly confrontation ensued. Uhura hurried to take cover while Spock fired his rifle on the leader, killing him instantly. Mitchell dodged a blast from the only surviving Klingons but then, as if they had agreed on it, both he and Spock fired their weapons on him at the same time.

He dropped dead and, after all the noise, an eerily quiet fell upon the bridge.

'Sorry,' Uhura said breaking the silence.

'Don't be,' Mitchell hurried to say, 'you saved my life!'

'Yes, but…' she said looking at Spock who was staring at the three dead Klingons with a worried frown creasing his brow, 'you wanted to keep them alive, didn't you?' Uhura asked him.

'I did,' he confirmed, 'but in the face of their aggression, defending ourselves was only logical.'

'I'm glad you think that, sir,' Mitchell said with a cheeky grin.

'As we still need to regain control of this ship,' Spock commented coolly, 'your happiness is quite irrelevant, Lieutenant.'

Meanwhile, Kirk and Sulu had long left the Reliant behind as they dashed to what McCoy had pessimistically deemed their certain deaths. In spite of that, the Captain had clearly overheard the doctor when he offered Chekov his "legendarily steady" hands in order to improve their chances at restoring the transporter's functionality sooner rather than later.

'Sir,' he heard Sulu's voice through the speaker in his helmet, 'we have enemies at ten o'clock.'

Glancing to his left, he saw the same six Klingon warbirds that had been surrounding the Enterprise. Alas, his beloved ship was nowhere to be seen. Removing this troubling thought, Kirk concentrated his energies on the not too large piece of floating rock on which they were meant to land.

'Fifteen hundred meters,' he told Sulu.

'Aye, Captain,' Sulu replied.

A moment later and with a very violent thud, the two of them managed to touch down without breaking their necks or anything else. Practice did make perfect, Kirk thought darkly as he pushed himself up.

'Now what?' Sulu asked him.

'This way,' Kirk replied pointing at the black prefab structure he'd spotted during their flight.

With next to no gravity, they had to keep using their suit's boosters to keep their feet stuck to the ground and, between this and trying to approach the Klingon base unseen, they took an absurdly long time before they made it. Thankfully, there was no one guarding the place, making it obvious to Kirk and Sulu that their enemies seemed to share McCoy's notion that coming in the way they did was so utterly mental that no one in their right mind would try to do it.

Their loss, Kirk thought.

Walking around the small, one floor building, they finally found an entrance and, releasing the door, they stepped into what looked like a depressurising room. The door they had just passed through slammed close and, a moment later, they saw another one opening, revealing a badly lit long corridor.

'Come on,' Kirk encouraged Sulu.

Carefully and having withdrawn their phasers, they walked along the passage, keeping their eyes peeled for an enemy that never came. Feeling sick with worry, they started hurrying their steps until they found what looked to be the entrance to another room. Again, there was no one guarding it.

'Where is everyone?' Sulu asked him not daring to raise his voice too much.

'I have no idea,' Kirk replied sincerely.

'Captain…'

'Come on, Sulu,' he repeated, 'we need to find her.'

Pushing the door's button, it slid open revealing an even darker room and it was only using a torch he'd found onboard the Reliant that he managed to spot the medium sized dark brown crate used to transport the Genesis device. He also saw that the container was open and, what was even worse, empty. The sight made him feel cold with fear as he contemplated the terrifying chance that they had come all the way here for absolutely nothing. Then, he heard a muted noise in the shadows.

'Carol?' he dared to ask.

He got no answer, instead, the sound became a little louder.

Sharing a quick glance with Sulu, the two of them circled the crate and, just there, lying on the ground facing the wall looking way too still for comfort, Kirk got visual of the mother of his child.

'Carol,' he repeated rushing towards her .

'Captain Kirk,' she said weakly.

'It's Jim,' he corrected her softly while he helped her sit up.

'But…'

'I was being a jerk and I'm sorry about that,' he told her with a sad smile, 'are you hurt? Did they…'

'Yeah,' Carol replied, 'they got upset I wasn't working fast enough. Think they know about pain,' she explained with a dry chuckle, 'they haven't tried giving birth to a four kilos baby without anaesthetic.'

Hearing this made Sulu and Kirk feel slightly faint.

'I'm sorry,' the Captain said, 'it's my fault that…'

'What are you doing in here?' she asked him sounding miserable rather than happy to see him.

'We're rescuing you, Carol,' Kirk said stating what he thought was the obvious.

'Go,' she said instead, 'we need to go right now.'

'Why?' Kirk heard Sulu asking her.

'If it's the Klingon…' the Captain said.

'No,' she interrupted him sounding anguished, 'it's not them.'

'Then, what is it?' Kirk asked her.

'It's the device,' Carol replied looking like she was being crushed with regret, 'they ordered me to rebuild it so that it would reverse the terraforming process but…that's not what I've done.'

'What have you done?' Kirk dared to ask.

'I've built Genesis so that it sets up a chain reaction that will destroy everything in a ten mile radius,' Carol explained and, before Kirk could even ask, she said, 'in no more than fifteen minutes from now.'

Unless Chekov performed a miracle, they were royally screwed.

_To be continued…_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Seven_

If Kirk and Sulu reacted badly to Carol's announcement, it was nothing compared to the blow she visibly took when they explained the terms of their rescue mission to her. Kirk watched her face as a series of emotions flashed on it until she seemed to settle for accepting her fate as gracefully as she could.

'I guess it was too good to be true,' she pessimistically said.

'Why didn't you wait for us?' Kirk asked her his tone void of any accusation.

'I tried,' she confessed, 'I wasn't holding my breath for it but, deep down, I allowed myself to hope. That's why I worked as slowly as I could,' she explained, 'but like I said, they didn't take that well.'

'What did they do to you?' Kirk asked her.

'You don't want to know,' Carol replied, 'suffice to say that it made me all the more resolute to do what I did. They were going to kill me anyway so I decided I wasn't going to go down quietly.'

Moving closer to her, Kirk took her hand in his and, without saying anything, he tried to convey everything he felt: his admiration, his sympathy, his encouragement and, above all, his love.

'Er…' Sulu said sounding a little awkward, 'I think I'm going to go out and…keep watch…okay?'

Kirk and Carol looked up at him as if they had just realised they weren't alone.

'Thanks,' the Captain muttered, Sulu was almost at the door when he added, 'hey Sulu...I'm sorry.'

'What for?' Sulu asked him.

'For the lousy situation I've put you in,' Kirk replied.

'Captain,' Sulu said offering him one of his rare but brilliant smiles, 'you didn't put me in any situation, remember? I volunteered.'

With that, he left the couple alone so that they could settle their own personal issues.

'You really shouldn't have come,' Carol said breaking the silence.

'Carol…'

'You don't get it, do you?' she asked him sounding devastated, 'it broke my heart to accept that I would never see Jimmy again but, at least I had the consolation that you'd be there to look after him, to raise him to be a great man, like you, like your father before you,' Carol said speaking as if she wanted to get it all off her chest, 'you see, the way you always put the wellbeing of the crew ahead of your own was what made me think you'd make a great father one day. That's the reason why I left you when I knew my presence would rob you of that experience. I know it broke your heart and I'll never be able to say sorry enough times to make up for it, but I…'

'Carol,' he stopped her by cradling her face in his hands, 'I love you. I never stopped loving you.'

Just in case this hadn't done the trick, Kirk lowered his face to hers, placing his lips on hers in what he intended to be a soft kiss but that soon became so much more. The realisation this could very well be the last time they'd be together made them lose their bearings and they grasped at each other as if their lives depended on it. Then, as abruptly as it started, they pulled apart feeling rather breathless.

'I refuse to think this is the end,' Kirk whispered while touching his forehead against hers, 'I will not believe it until it slaps me across the face because…we simply cannot let our son grow up without us.'

'You really don't believe in no-win scenarios, do you?' Carol asked him with a watery smile.

'Now more than ever,' Kirk replied firmly, 'look, I've had more lucky escapes in my life than I care to count, I'm alive when I should be dead and, somewhere up there, I have a beautiful son when it was deemed next to impossible. If anyone is going to beat the odds, I know it's going to be me.'

'If you put it that way…' Carol said sounding almost convinced.

'They'll do it,' he insisted looking at her intensely, 'Chekov will get us out of…'

Just then the air crackled with energy and widening their eyes in surprise, they saw tiny golden tendrils of energy beginning to surround their bodies. Smiling at each other, they understood what was happening to them.

'I knew it!' Kirk happily exclaimed.

Carol couldn't speak but her eyes shone with tears of joy.

Then, they dematerialised as the transporter did its job. Shutting his eyes closed, he prayed that when he'd open them again he would see the rudimentary but fully functional pads aboard the Reliant. Instead, he looked up and saw an overexcited man rushing to them from behind a console he knew like the back of his hand.

'CAPTAIN!' Montgomery Scott shouted seeing him.

'Scotty!' Kirk shouted back springing up on his feet, 'how…wha…'

'Hello to you too,' an incredibly familiar voice said coming from somewhere behind him. Turning round, he saw a scowling Dr McCoy together with Chekov. Both sported identical pairs of safety goggles and, in their hands, they were still carrying the tools they had obviously been using up to mere instants before.

'We were so close!' the Russian man said looking slightly annoyed.

'I'm sure you were,' Kirk said patting him on his arm encouragingly then, after briefly zeroing on Sulu who seemed to be too shocked to articulate the happiness displayed on his face, he focused his attention on Carol who looked like she also was too stunned to move, 'can you stand up?' he asked offering her his hand.

'Where's Jimmy?' she asked Scotty instead.

'The wee one is on the bridge,' the Engineer replied smiling at her.

Without waiting for anyone else, she scrambled back on her feet and rushed out of the room as if pushed by some extraordinarily powerful force. Kirk hurried to follow her while he asked Scotty, the only one who was up to date, to run with him and give him a full report of what had happened on his ship. McCoy, Sulu and Chekov were left with no option but to chase after the other three.

As they entered the bridge, they saw Carol rushing to her son who she found on Spock's lap while the Vulcan sat on the Captain's chair. The boy, sensing her presence, turned round and exclaimed:

'MUMMY!'

'I'm so sorry baby,' she cried while he threw himself into her open arms, 'I'm so, so, sorry…I will never leave again, I promise. I will never leave you alone again,' her words became sobs as she burst into copious tears.

'Sulu,' Kirk ordered him trying to concentrate on the work he still needed to do, 'get us out of here as quickly as you can.'

'Aye, Captain,' the helmsman said practically kicking Mitchell out of his seat.

'Jim…' Spock started rising from the Captain's chair.

This made Kirk look at him in the eye and, although they really didn't have time for such luxuries, the Captain still took a moment to reach out for his First Officer and, embracing him in a tight hug, he asked him:

'Are you alright?'

'I am,' Spock replied trying to be his usual stoic self, 'sufficiently healthy.'

'Okay,' Kirk said deciding to ask about those cuts and bruises later.

Before that, he returned his attention to his small family and, after gently guiding a still teary Carol on to the Captain's chair, he glanced over to Uhura and issued an order which took everyone by surprise:

'Hail the Klingon fleet.'

'Yes, sir,' Uhura said recovering fast.

'Captain,' he heard Chekov saying speaking from his own station, 'I read several incoming ships.'

'Romulan?' Kirk asked him.

'Yes, sir,' the Russian Ensign said.

'Broadcast our transmission to the Klingons to them, all channels, all frequencies,' he ordered Uhura.

'Captain,' Spock asked, 'what are you doing?'

'Ending this madness,' Kirk replied, 'for once and for all.'

'I have Captain Kang, sir,' Uhura announced.

'On screen,' he asked.

He saw that Carol was going to get up from his chair but, placing a hand on her shoulder, he stopped her and he stared at the viewscreen while he mentally worked on the speech he was about to give.

'This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise,' he started as soon as the Klingon's face appeared, without letting him speak, he carried on, 'as I understand it, you have a device onboard your ship which you have been made believe will help you destroy Romulus. I assure you the only thing which will be destroyed is you and your fleet, unless you beam it back to the asteroid where it was assembled. You have less than five minutes to comply and get as far away from the area as quickly as you can.'

'You're bluffing,' Kang said trying to sound unimpressed and unafraid.

'He's not,' Carol intervened glaring at her torturer who seemed to instantly recognise her.

'You can choose to believe we're lying and be destroyed,' Kirk offered, 'or you can try to trust me when I say that the Genesis device will destroy your fleet. This is my final warning: with it I have shown you compassion. I have shown you honour. I know your kind believes in those values, that you believe in the bonds of family. Yet your actions so far have shown no compassion, no honour and you almost destroyed both of my families: my crew and this one,' he said gesturing to Carol and Jimmy, 'you would have deprived my son of a life with both his parents. Because of you, he would not have had anyone to teach him what is right and what is wrong, he would have grown up angry and lost.' Kirk explained pretty much describing his own childhood.

'And what do you want in return for your generosity?' Kang asked sounding a lot more reasonable.

'In these past few years,' Kirk replied, 'history has been repeating itself and it's time we stopped this. It's time we truly ceased hostilities between your kind, the Romulan Star Empire and the Federation. I strongly believe we can make it happen so, I beg you, I implore you to consider a universe where all three of us can live long and prosper as equals. Today, as a sign of our faith in the wisdom I know your kind possesses, we will let you go. All I ask is that you don't make us regret this choice.'

'You won't, you have my word,' the Klingon finally said.

With this, the transmission terminated leaving the whole bridge in a stupefied silence.

'Captain…' Spock was the first to speak, 'what you've done…'

'Sir,' Uhura interrupted him, 'we're being hailed by the ChR Gal Gath'thong.'

'Well,' Kirk commented to himself, 'that was quick. Uhura, please put them on screen.'

'Yes, sir,' she replied, 'stand by.'

A moment later, the viewscreen filled itself with the video feed from yet another ship, only that, this time, it wasn't the dark and Spartan interior of a Klingon warbird. This time, it was the bridge of a much brighter and better equipped Romulan vessel.

'Commander Keras,' Kirk greeted him as cordially as he could.

'Captain Kirk,' the Romulan replied, 'we heard your…negotiations with the Klingon.'

Kirk just nodded to that.

'I am curious,' Keras said, 'as to what's driven you to pardon the Klingon rebels when you had…'

'My apologies, Commander,' Kirk interrupted him, 'I understand your concern but…'

'Do you?' Keras asked him.

Narrowing his eyes, Kirk counted up to ten before he replied.

'Commander,' he said his voice sounding a little harder than earlier, 'I believe not a lot of people have as many reasons to hate the Klingons, or even your own kind as I do but, tell me Commander, what do you think has fuelled the Klingons' desire to rebel against the oppressive humiliation they've been subjected to ever since the Nimbus III Peace Treaty was signed?'

'But…'

'Hatred will never cease if we don't grant each other the dignity we deserve,' Kirk continued, 'if we keep pushing each other into corners, is it not natural that our own self-preservation instinct will lead us to rebel? If we are to stop this madness, we need to stop the hatred and if it means taking a risk and letting the Klingons walk away today, then so be it.'

'The Klingons will retaliate,' Keras insisted.

'No they won't,' Kirk countered.

'You don't know that,' Keras challenged him.

'I do know,' Kirk retorted, 'and you know why I do? Because Captain Kang has given me his word and you know as well as I do that a Klingon would rather commit suicide than having to live with the dishonour of having gone back on his word.'

'But he's just one Klingon,' Keras tried to argue.

'He was the one leading the rebellion,' Kirk countered again, 'Commander, I know what I'm asking might be interpreted as unreasonable but I also know that you hate conflict as much as I do. It is for this reason that I am extending the same offer I made to Captain Kang: please consider a universe where we can all live together in peace. Just bring this forth to your leadership and ask them to carefully think about it.'

The Romulan Commander studied him for a moment before nodding once.

'I can't make any promises,' he said, 'but I will attempt to persuade them.'

'That's more than enough,' Kirk replied, 'thank you, Commander.'

'Captain Kirk,' Keras said making it clear he was no longer speaking as a Romulan commanding officer, 'it is fortunate you still keep your youthful compassion, in spite of everything that's been taken from you; I can only hope you will always guide your crew with your kindness.'

'I will,' Kirk promised.

'Then,' Keras ended, 'I believe we can all have the peace we dream of.'

Once again, the viewscreen went blank before the brilliant blue warp lines reappeared on it.

'I'll be damned,' this time, it was McCoy who spoke first, 'Jim, I think you've pretty much…'

'Mummy?' they then heard little Jimmy saying with a slightly panicked voice, 'Mummy!'

Turning their attention to Carol, they saw that the scientist had her eyes closed and that her head had lolled to one side as she sat limply against the Captain's chair. Feeling his heart at his throat, Jim sunk down on his knees while he started checking for a pulse trying not to scare the living lights out of poor Jimmy. In spite of that, the boy's blue eyes mirrored the terror which was starting to paralyse his father.

'Bones,' he wheezed.

The doctor was already there and, pulling out his trusty tricorder, he started scanning for her vitals.

'Please, Bones…please…' he found himself begging almost hysterically.

He couldn't lose her again.

He just couldn't.

_To be continued…_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Chapter Eight_

Without anyone needing to ask her, Yeoman Rand was the first to reach out for little Jimmy, taking him in her arms as Dr McCoy dropped the tricorder on the floor and, if that wasn't a clear enough sign that something was horribly wrong, he dragged Carol out of the chair placing her supine on the ground trying to be as careful as he could. It was only then that Kirk reacted and looking at his son, he ordered the Yeoman to, 'take him away: I don't want him to see this.'

'Yes, sir,' she replied quickly taking the boy as far as she could.

'Her heart's stopped,' Dr McCoy announced confirming Kirk's worst fears.

'Bones…'

The doctor ignored him, looking around for his kit looking gratefully at Uhura when she handed it over to him. Working fast, he prepared a hypo-spray, inserting a large canister in it. Once this was ready, he lowered the collar of Carol's jersey as far as it would go and without wasting time, he pressed the hypo-spray right above her heart. Discarding it, he started performing a CPR massage.

'Bones…'

'Quiet Jim,' the doctor ordered him as he mentally counted the times he pressed down, 'come on, Carol,' he tried encouraging her, 'don't you give up now.' After an interminably long minute, the tired doctor retrieved his tricorder and started scanning her with it. it wasn't until several seconds later that, sounding just a teensy bit relieved, he said, 'her vitals are back.'

'Thank God,' someone from the bridge couldn't help but to say.

'She's not out of the woods yet,' McCoy told Kirk sounding even more serious than usual, 'I need to get her to Medical so that I can run more tests to figure out what's happening to her.'

'Of course,' Kirk replied and without needing to be asked, he scooped her up in his arms.

'Okay,' the doctor said then, glancing at Spock, he added, 'you too, I want you all checked up stat.'

'Doctor, I assure you…'

'No,' McCoy stopped him, 'I just ran out of damns to give so, you get your Vulcan ass to Medical this precise instant or so help me God,' he threatened him while he and Kirk rushed to the turbolift.

Being left with no other choice, the Vulcan found a very worried Scotty.

'Take the conn,' Spock ordered him, 'and arrange the transportation of the Klingon prisoners to a more suitable location.'

'Yes, sir,' the Chief Engineer promptly replied.

Spock only wasted one more instant while he exchanged a quick glance with Uhura who limited herself to follow him with her eyes. Then, other than the occasional electronic beeps, the only sound they could hear on the bridge was Yeoman Rand's soft voice as she tried to soothe poor little Jimmy.

Down at Medical and while the doctors and nurses worked on a still unconscious Carol and Dr Kaori Kitagawa took care of Spock's not-so-slight injuries, for once in his life, Kirk did what he'd been told.

He was obediently sitting down in Dr McCoy's office when Yeoman Rand came in bringing Jimmy with her.

'Captain,' she said, 'I'm sorry to bother you but...the boy…'

Looking up, a still confounded Kirk managed to see that his son was staring at him intently.

'Give him to me,' he asked her without getting up from the chair.

'Sure,' she hurried to say then, handing him the small child, she asked, 'is there anything you need?'

'Only his mother,' Kirk replied with brutal honesty.

'Of course,' the Yeoman replied, 'I hope she gets well soon, sir.'

'Me too, Janice,' he replied, 'me too…'

With Rand gone, Kirk was left alone with his son for the first time. At first, the two of them just studied each other with an equal mix of curiosity and fascination. Kirk found it hard to believe that he could have created such a wonder and, in spite of all the angst he felt, he couldn't help but to curve his lips into a smile as he stared at those sparkling blue eyes so similar to his own.

'Hello,' he finally said, 'are you hungry?'

The boy nodded his head once without taking his eyes off him.

'Do you like apples?' Kirk tried.

'Yep,' Jimmy replied, 'apples are yummy.'

'Yes, they are,' Kirk agreed, his smile widening a bit more, 'let's see if we can get this replicator to make one for us,' he said getting up from the chair. He made it to the food processor and, after pressing a series of buttons he knew like the back of his hand, he obtained a shiny red apple.

Taking it, he selected one of the knives kept in a small drawer by the replicator and, sitting back down on the chair, he settled Jimmy on his lap before he started carefully peeling the apple. He usually wouldn't have bothered but, he guessed, kids as young as his son would not be okay with eating the skin.

'Gimme, gimme,' the boy suddenly said making a grabbing gesture with his tiny hands.

'Wait a moment,' Kirk said laughing softly, 'I'm nearly done.'

The boy frowned a little as if he wasn't happy with that answer and that made Kirk hurry up.

'Here,' he said after he'd finished cutting the apple in perfect little wedges, 'it's ready.'

The boy didn't need to be asked twice and, grabbing one of the pieces, he brought it to his mouth eating it so quickly he immediately went for a second one. Kirk had read somewhere that small children shouldn't eat too fast so he kept the rest of the apple away and asked the boy to slow down.

'It'll hurt your tummy,' he explained to his son.

'No, no hurt tummy,' the boy said shaking his head.

'Yes, it will,' Kirk insisted, 'Jimmy, do as I say, I'm your…'

He stopped himself just before he blurted it out wondering if he was allowed to tell him the truth. With a pang, he realised that the boy wasn't even aware of the bond that tied them together and, right at that moment, Kirk found himself not knowing what to do about this weird situation.

'More,' the boy asked clearly unaware of his father's dilemma.

'Yeah,' Kirk said offering his son one more piece of apple.

Half an hour later, with the boy fed and after he'd drank an entire glass of water, a content Jimmy had fallen asleep in his arms giving Kirk the time he needed to try and come up with what was the most important decision of his entire life.

'Hey,' he heard Dr McCoy's voice sounding oddly soft, 'is he sleeping?'

'Yeah,' Kirk replied in an equally hushed tone.

The doctor didn't say anything else. Instead, he went to the cabinet where he kept his emergency supply of bourbon. Kirk watched him pour a couple of glasses not even bothering to get some ice.

'Here,' McCoy said offering him one.

'Bones…'

His best friend took a long gulp of liqueur before he let himself drop on the chair behind his desk.

'Bones, please…'

'Carol's going to be okay,' he finally announced tiredly, 'eventually.'

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked feeling faint with relief.

'Those damned Klingons,' McCoy complained, 'they really are crafty with their torture techniques.'

Kirk took a swing of his own glass before he was brave enough to ask:

'What did they do to her?'

'As far as I can tell,' the doctor replied, 'they used the same tool that did a number on you a few years ago. Her bones were full of microfractures and her muscular fibres were pretty much fried. To be honest, I have no idea how she managed to run the way she did,' he said, 'well, I do,' he then corrected himself while staring at the sleeping little boy, 'it was her motherly instinct which kept her going and what ultimately saved her life.'

'What do you mean?' Kirk asked again.

'Those bastards injected something in her,' Dr McCoy replied, 'I don't know what it was but I know what it did: it slowed down the heart rate to a lethal point forcing her to keep herself stressed so that the adrenaline would prevent her from going into arrest. It's an excellent way to keep someone on their toes, if it wasn't because once the person finally relaxes, their heart pretty much stops.'

Hearing this made Kirk down the entire glass.

'She'll be okay,' the doctor assured him seeing this, 'we're cleansing her blood making sure the drug is gone and we're healing her bones and the lacerations we found on her skin. Other than that, she just needs a lot of rest, peace and quiet.'

Kirk glanced at his best friend unable to utter a single word.

'Jim,' McCoy said for him, 'she had a lucky escape. If you hadn't found her when you did, she would have probably died within minutes. I know I never say things like this but, you were right to hurry.'

'Thanks,' the Captain finally managed.

'Now,' the doctor continued, 'what are you going to do about the little one?'

'I'm not sure,' Kirk said, 'to be honest I don't even know how to tell him who I am to him.'

'Keep it simple,' McCoy advised, seeing Kirk's disbelieving look, he added, 'kids are not as complicated as us adults, if we just tell them something is this or that way, they'll accept it and move on. Trust me: just get Carol to introduce you as his father and he'll gladly give you the job.'

'Speaking of,' Kirk said sounding very serious, 'I'm thinking I should resign my commission.'

'What?'

'Hear me out,' the Captain begged him.

'No,' McCoy refused, 'I know what you're going to say and let me save you the trouble because it's bullshit,' he continued before Kirk could open his mouth to protest, 'you don't want to be an absent father and you think that's what you'd be if you were to continue your job as this ship's CO but, let me enlighten you, you wouldn't be the first, nor the last, Starfleet CO who has young kids growing up away from them.'

'But…'

'What do you think would have happened to your family if your father had survived the Kelvin?'

Kirk raised his eyebrows as if he'd just seen McCoy's point, in spite of that, he still tried to argue:

'Let me ask you one thing: wouldn't you want to spend more time with your daughter?'

McCoy shook his head firmly before he answered:

'Not really. As much as I hate to admit it, the ex-wife is doing a much better job at parenting her than I ever did. Jim, I'm not going to lie to you, even when I lived with them, I still spent most of the time away working. If it wasn't the hospital, I'd be on some convention or whatnot. The truth is, it would be a miracle if I spent more than a few hours a week at home. You know it was one of the many reasons why the ex asked for the damned divorce.'

'I know,' Kirk confirmed.

'I'm not going to tell you what to do,' McCoy said, 'but I can tell you that this is not something you can decide on your own. Talk to Carol, ask her what she thinks and, if you two want to give it a go…'

'What if it doesn't work out?' Kirk asked him.

'Then,' McCoy replied, 'you can always resign your commission, give up your ship and buy a freaking farm if that's what makes you happy. But I don't think that's what's going to happen, is it?'

Kirk thought about it carefully then, he shook his head and said:

'No, probably not.'

'Okay,' McCoy said, 'now I need to rest for a bit so, why don't you two go and sit with her for a bit?'

'Are you kicking us out?' Kirk asked him with a smirk.

'Yes,' McCoy replied, 'it's been a long day and you know I get cranky if I don't get enough sleep.'

'Yeah, because usually you're so full of sunshine,' Kirk laughed while carefully getting up.

'Get out,' the doctor ordered him.

Kirk grinned at his best friend and, before he stepped out of the room, he turned round and said:

'Thanks, Bones.'

'You're welcome, kiddo,' McCoy replied.

With a still sleeping Jimmy held firmly in his arms, Kirk walked out of the doctor's office and to the sector in Medical where they had the few private rooms for the most important and/or complicated patients. Through the only partially obscured window in room number one, he saw a worried looking Uhura watching over an unconscious Spock. This sight gave Kirk a strong sense of déjà-vu but, brushing it off, he let himself in the room trying to be as quiet as possible.

'Hey,' he whispered at the Communications Officer to warn her of his presence.

'Captain…' she said going to get up from the chair.

'At ease,' he told her still whispering, 'I just wanted to check on him. Is he going to be alright?'

'Yes, sir,' Uhura replied, 'Dr Kitagawa said he was lucky this time but since the connection between mind and body in a Vulcan is as strong as it is fragile when compromised, she told us it's important Spock restores that balance with a short healing trance.'

'It is,' Kirk concurred. He stared at his bondmate for a moment and then, he returned his gaze to Uhura, 'please,' he asked her, 'look after him: he deserves all the love he can get.'

'I know,' she said looking a little teary.

'I'll leave him to your care then,' Kirk said and Uhura got the distinct impression he wasn't talking just about this specific time of need but, rather, that the Captain was entrusting Spock to her.

'Yes, sir,' she said accepting the mission.

'Thank you, Nyota,' he said allowing himself to use her first name for the first time…ever.

'You're welcome, Jim,' she replied returning the favour.

The Captain just nodded and offering her a brief smile, he walked out of the room taking Jimmy with him. Uhura realised a split second too late that she had not asked about Dr Marcus and was about to get up to go after Kirk when a sound coming from Spock's biobed got her attention.

'Nyota…' she heard him calling her.

'Spock,' Uhura replied settling back on her chair, 'why did you wake up?'

'The healing process,' he replied, 'is complete.'

'Really?' she said sounding a tad sceptical.

'I am fully recovered,' he assured her, 'my injuries were minor and Dr Kitagawa's healing was most effective. Her knowledge in terms of Vulcan physiology is commendable for someone…'

'Human?' she ventured.

'Yes,' he replied honestly then, after a moment of silence, he asked, 'to what do I owe the honour?'

'What honour?' she asked him back.

'Your presence by my side,' he replied, 'it is as surprising as it is welcome.'

Uhura stared at him for a moment as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. Then, shaking her head once, she tried to arm herself with the courage she would need to provide him with an answer.

'You know…' she started hesitantly, 'er…I…'

'Perhaps I can…'

'No,' Uhura stopped him, 'please don't interrupt me, I'm…I know what I want to say I just…I don't know if I can find the right way to express it. I…I'm trying to come up with the right words and…'

'Nyota,' he said doing precisely what she had asked him not to do, 'you are this ship's Chief Communications Officer, if anyone is capable of gathering her thoughts and conveying them in the most appropriate manner, that person is you.'

'Thanks for the confidence,' she said sounding vaguely sarcastic.

'My trust in you has never faltered,' he told her oblivious to it.

'Hasn't it?' she asked him nonetheless.

'Never,' he assured her.

This took her aback but then, it also gave her the push she needed to start her speech:

'My trust in myself did falter, Spock. Back when we were together, it was always clear to me that there was something missing in the relationship but I thought it was our massive cultural differences that left a gap. But then Kirk showed up in our lives and suddenly, the gap got wider and wider until one day, when I realised that Kirk was to you what I had always been trying to be,' she paused for a moment before she continued, 'I was so jealous of Carol, and so angry at her too. Why could she be with Kirk when he was clearly bonded to you? How could she settle for that? I simply did not understand and I felt betrayed because as a fellow woman, her accepting of this situation cheapened our relationships with you guys. Or at least, that's what I naively thought.'

Spock remained quiet, letting her carry on.

'When I found out about your _t'hy'la_ bond with Kirk I thought I'd lost you forever,' she said, 'I thought I would never be an integral part of your life the way Kirk is. However, these past few hours what's happened to Kirk and Carol has showed me I was wrong. That I don't need to be your _t'hy'la_, your everything, in order to be with you. I can be your girlfriend, your wife and maybe one day, the mother of your children, the person you will grow old with and that will welcome you home when you and Kirk return from your missions. I realised that if I can be that, I will be happy with you.'

'I have been awaiting to hear these words from you,' Spock said, 'I always had faith that, one day, you would understand that my bond with Kirk does not preclude others, he is indeed my _t'hy'la_ but you can also be my _ashayam_.'

'_Ashayam_…that's the Vulcan word for beloved,' Uhura noted.

'Precisely,' Spock replied, 'furthermore, you often told me you wished I acted more human.'

'I did,' she admitted,

'Yet you always treat me as a Vulcan,' Spock gently pointed out, 'this makes it challenging for me to produce the appropriate emotional response as my mind expects none.'

'Is this what Kirk does?' she asked him.

'Jim often forgets I am half Vulcan,' Spock replied sounding happy.

'And you like that,' it wasn't a question.

'Indeed I do,' he replied nonetheless, 'I find it makes it easier for me to…like he said…deal with my emotions, rather than repressing them. It is curious what a subtle, yet crucial difference that makes.'

Uhura nodded her agreement.

'Nyota,' he added after another quiet moment, 'perhaps you will find this premature but, considering the events in the past few days, I find myself obliged to pose you a query.'

'Go ahead.'

'I will utilise Jim's vernacular for this,' he warned her, 'would you like us to…have another go?'

Uhura felt her lips curve into a massive smile.

'I'd love to,' she said and was going to hug him but then, she stopped herself and, getting serious, she said, 'you first,' Spock looked at her seeming a tad confused but then, he understood and, sitting up on the biobed, he slowly took her in his arms before placing a kiss on her lips, 'it's the first time.'

'Pardon me?' he asked her.

'It's the first time you initiate the contact,' she clarified.

'Is this something you would encourage in the future?' he asked her.

'Yes, I would very much encourage it,' she replied honestly.

'Understood,' he simply said before kissing her again.

Uhura laughed, finding it hard to believe how such a small gesture could make her feel so incredibly happy but, closing her eyes, she let herself be engulfed by the sheer joy of being Spock's _ashayam_.

A few hours later, a very weak Carol woke up to the wonderful sound made by her son's happy giggling. Scanning the room with her eyes, she was surprised and utterly heart-warmed when she saw father and son sitting on the floor, playing with what looked like an old baseball. She did not want to interrupt them deciding to watch them play for a bit but then, Jimmy noticed her awake.

'Mummy!' he said getting up from the ground, instantly forgetting about the ball that was rolling towards him. Carol saw him rushing towards her biobed but he was stopped thanks to the Captain's quick reflexes and with the momentum he used to get up, he also caught the boy in his arms.

'Hey,' he said smiling at her.

'Hello,' Carol greeted him back allowing herself to get lost in those wonderful blue eyes.

'Mummy,' Jimmy said taking them out of their reverie, 'Jimmy and Daddy play ball.'

Kirk almost let go of his son and, feeling too much in shock to speak, he let Carol do it instead.

'Who told you about Daddy?' she asked her son.

'Nana,' the boy replied as if this wasn't news at all, 'Nana said Daddy work, but Daddy home now.'

'Who's nana?' Kirk finally managed to find his voice.

'My Aunt Martha,' Carol explained.

'Daddy home,' Jimmy insisted, 'Jimmy and Daddy play ball,' he repeated looking very happy.

'You like playing ball with daddy?' Carol asked him.

'Yep,' the boy replied tightening his grasp around Kirk's shoulders.

Carol grinned at Kirk first, then, looking at her son very seriously, she told him:

'But you know that Daddy cannot always be home, right? Because Daddy has an important work to do, you see?' she asked him making a slight gesture with her hand, 'this is Daddy's starship and there are a lot of people who work in this starship and, Jimmy, everyone here also needs your Daddy.'

'Jimmy knows,' the boy said looking equally serious, 'Nana said Daddy work.'

'Yes,' Kirk finally intervened, 'but that doesn't mean I can't come home every time I can, you know that, right?'

'Yep,' the boy replied.

'And you'd be okay with that?' Kirk asked him even if the question was also aimed to Carol.

'Yep,' he repeated, 'Mummy work too.'

'She does,' Kirk confirmed, 'but Mummy is also home with you.'

'And Nana,' the boy reminded them.

'And Nana,' Kirk agreed with him, then he glanced at Carol as if he was uncertain about what he'd find. She was staring at him with the sort of bravery that had made him fall in love with her and, getting closer to the biobed, he gently took her hand in his and said, 'would you be okay with this?'

'I would,' she replied.

'But Carol…'

'I know you'll find it hard to believe,' she said her voice sounding a little sad, 'but up until the Khan incident, I only had good memories of my father of when he'd come home after his missions in space. I remember those were the best days of the year and I looked forward to them.'

Kirk studied her for a moment then, careful not to drop Jimmy, he produced something out of his pocket. Carol stared at it, her eyes widening in surprise when she recognised the small black box.

'I threw it away,' he confessed, 'but Spock told me it wasn't mine to throw and I needed to keep it, just in case one day I would need it again. As usual, he was right.'

'Jim…'

'What do you think Carol?' he asked her afraid of formulating the proper question, 'can we do it?'

Carol just nodded unable to bring herself to speak.

'Hey,' Kirk asked Jimmy, 'how would you like it if Mummy and Daddy get married?'

'Okay,' the kid quickly answered even though it was obvious he hadn't understood the question.

'Well,' Kirk said trying to sound casual, 'it appears we have his blessing.'

Carol nodded again. Kirk sat down on the biobed and, giving her a quick peck, he allowed himself to enjoy having his family together for the first time in his life. He had never felt any more complete.

_To be concluded…_


	10. Epilogue

**Star Trek XV – Now and Forever**

_Epilogue _

Rkrxt II, Class M Planetoid - Stardate 2265.283

After travelling to the somewhat arid but perfectly inhabitable planetoid Rkrxt II near the Talos system, a landing party formed solely by Captain Kirk, Commander Spock and Dr McCoy had managed to find an appropriate hiding location within a bushy little forest that would also provide them cover from above in case the enemy deployed an aerial recognition party. Kirk was about to decide what to do next when a cantankerous Dr McCoy started complaining.

'Let me get this straight,' he said, 'six months ago we saved the universe from self-destruction, again, and all the damn Federation does is give you a second five year mission and the very first thing we do off-ship is go and investigate some shady operation in a God forsaken planetoid?'

Kirk stared at him for a moment before he smirked and said:

'Pretty much.'

'Splendid,' the doctor sardonically said, 'and tell me, why the hell did you think it was a good idea to enrol me in this whole moronic mission?'

'Well,' Kirk replied shrugging his shoulders, 'I thought you'd be happy to be on firm land for a little while.'

'You know, Jim,' McCoy said pointing his finger at him, 'you and I need to have a nice long talk about what I consider having a good time because landing in dusty balls of rock is not what I think as fun, alright?'

'Doctor,' Spock replied calmly, 'the smugglers appear to be trafficking with stolen medical equipment, the Captain and I require your expertise in an attempt to determine the nature of said machinery.'

Dr McCoy scowled at the Vulcan and was ready to retort when Kirk shushed him and said:

'They're coming.

Looking up from their hiding place, they saw a battered looking shuttle landing perilously on top of a rocky mount. When its doors were opened, they revealed a full complement of...

'GORNS!' McCoy exclaimed awfully loudly, 'they're Gorns, Jim!'

The Captain refused to grace his comment with an answer, instead, he grabbed his electronic binoculars, activating the recording function in them so that he could capture the moment when ten Gorns started unloading several crates, all of them bearing the crest of the United Federation of Planets.

'We need to get closer,' he muttered to his two companions.

'We what?' the doctor wheezed.

'It is logical,' the Vulcan said.

'Logi…listen to me,' McCoy said speaking to the two madmen he called his friends, 'you've never had anything to do with Gorns before, they're vicious creatures and...why are you two looking at me like that?'

'Doctor,' Spock was the first to answer, 'you raise yet another valid point that justifies your presence here.'

'Wha…'

'Come on, Bones,' Kirk added, 'I promise you we won't be in danger: we'll just get a little closer, get visual on the serial numbers of those crates so we can report them to the Federation and we'll be out of here.'

'You promise?' the doctor asked.

'I promise,' Kirk confirmed.

'No going out guns blazing nor any of your usual shenanigans,' McCoy clarified.

'No, none of that,' Kirk promised.

'Alright then,' the doctor said, 'but if any of you two gets hurt, I swear to God I will not help you.'

'That is a moot threat doctor,' Spock dared to point out and, seeing the puzzled way they both looked at him, he felt the need to elaborate, 'as a physician you have the sacred duty to help a patient in need. In the unfortunate event the Captain and/or I get injured, you would be obliged to help, regardless of your personal feelings.'

'Spock, not helping,' Kirk said placing a hand McCoy's shoulder before the doctor could violate his _sacred duty_ and murder the Vulcan, 'Bones, the faster we get this done, the sooner we'll be back on the Enterprise.'

After glaring at an impassive Spock some more, the doctor started making his way out of the forest.

'Come on,' Kirk told his First Officer, 'we must not be seen, or else we might actually need his services.'

'That would be highly inconvenient,' Spock was quick to note.

'You know I have your back, right?' Kirk assured him.

'As I have yours,' Spock replied.

Using their very low numbers as a stealth factor, the three of them managed to make it within a few hundred metres from the entrance to the Gorn base. Once there, hidden behind a large fallen rock, they saw that there were a lot more crates stored inside a small warehouse.

All of those containers belonged to the Federation and now they were sufficiently close, they could clearly see the serial number along with a well known manufacturer of medical equipment with headquarters in Zurich, on the Swiss territory back on Earth.

'Bones,' Kirk whispered as loudly as he dared, 'that brand…'

'Yes,' McCoy confirmed, 'they are the leading makers of human tissue regenerators.'

'Why would the Gorn be interested in such technology?' Spock wondered out loud.

'They don't have any commercial agreements with any human organisation, do they?' Kirk added.

'I don't think so,' McCoy replied, 'but I think we can get the hell out of here now.'

'I agree,' Kirk thankfully said and as promised, he added, 'we'll take what we've learned and hand it over to the Federation.'

With that, he ordered Scotty to beam them up back on the Enterprise. They had just dematerialised when, three humans appeared out of the small warehouse and the sight of one of them made the Gorn bow down in some sort of worship. The leader of the Gorn unit walked closer to the human and, showing his respect, he said:

'Master, we have completed your orders.'

'Well done,' the human said, 'now you are part of my family, you shall be rewarded accordingly.'

'Yes, master,' the Gorn leader said.

Back on the Enterprise, unbeknownst of what had just transpired planet-side and while Dr McCoy returned to Medical, grateful that, for once, he and his first aid kit had not been necessary, Kirk and Spock hurried to the bridge fully aware they were running a little late for their weekly call with New Vulcan.

'Captain on the bridge,' Chekov chirped happily.

'Welcome back, anything interesting to report?' Lieutenant Commander Mitchell asked him as he got up from the Captain's chair.

'Not really,' Kirk replied to his former classmate, 'sorry Gary but, it looks it's going to be another boring day.'

'That's fine by me, Captain,' the man replied returning to his station at tactical.

'What are your orders, Captain?' Sulu asked him.

'Just take us out, Mr Sulu,' Kirk replied grinning at the helmsman, 'go wherever you feel like it.'

'Awesome,' Sulu said exchanging a pleased look with Chekov who adorably smiled back at him.

'Captain, I have their signal,' Uhura announced.

'On screen,' Kirk asked her.

'Stand by,' the Communications Officer said.

A moment later, the darkness of space was replaced by the very light interior of a typical New Vulcan terracotta house, there, on screen, he saw the familiar face of the woman to whom he owed all of his current happiness.

'Martha,' he greeted her, 'I trust you're well.'

'I am better than that, James,' the woman replied, 'Vulcans really are the smartest race in the universe: this warm weather is doing wonders to my health. All this fresh air is great for my skin and I have never felt any younger!'

'I'm glad to hear that,' Kirk said exchanging a glance with Spock who looked a tiny bit proud of his heritage.

'Carol will be here momentarily,' Martha explained, 'Jimmy's just finishing something up for you.'

'Oh,' Kirk said, 'what is it?'

'It's a surprise!' they heard Carol shouting from the background.

'Oh I see,' Kirk said.

A moment later and just as promised, he saw his wife appearing on screen with their two and a half year old boy. The kid was carrying what it looked like a roll of old fashioned paper he was guarding with a lot of care.

'Hello,' Carol greeted him, 'say hello to Daddy,' she then instructed Jimmy.

'Hi Daddy,' the little boy obliged.

'Is that for me?' Kirk asked him pointing at the paper.

'Yep,' the kid replied and, with his mother's help, he started unrolling it slowly. On it, Kirk and the rest of the bridge crew saw a multicoloured drawing on a dark background peppered with carefully dotted silver stars.

'What does it represent?' Spock asked them.

'It's the Enterprise!' Kirk replied feeling slightly offended.

'But…'

'It's the Enterprise, Spock,' Uhura repeated throwing him a warning glance.

'Oh, I see,' the Vulcan said.

'And here,' Carol pointed out at two other figures on the paper, 'who is in here, Jimmy?' she asked the boy.

'Daddy and Uncle Pok,' the kid replied sounding very serious.

'Tell them why they're holding hands,' Carol asked her son.

'Daddy and Pok are _t'hy'la_,' the boy firmly replied.

The Captain found his gaze travelling to the Vulcan standing by his side holding those brown eyes with his blue ones waiting to see what would happen next then, to everyone's general stupor, Spock nodded once and, speaking to the little boy, he said:

'You are a remarkably smart child and I am proud of being your uncle.'

Hearing this made the boy offer him the mother of all grins.

'Okay,' Carol said recovering before anyone else, 'it's time for your dinner now, Jimmy, say bye bye.'

'Bye, bye!' the kid said.

'Bye, bye, Jimmy,' everyone on the bridge replied then, Kirk alone added, 'I'll see you next week, okay?'

'Yep,' the boy replied.

'And be good to your mother,' he reminded him 'you have to look after her while I'm at work.'

The boy nodded taking the mission very seriously. After that, Aunt Martha came to retrieve the kid, leaving Carol alone to talk to her husband. The scientist went straight to business while she reported her latest news.

'You were right,' she told Kirk, 'I haven't seen the final blueprint yet but, from what Ambassador Sarek told me, the improved design of the Genesis device will make it practically unusable for any other purposes other than the one it was intended for. We still have to run some more preliminary tests but we might be ready to move onto the assembling part of the project at the end of the year, just in time for your scheduled visit.'

'That's great news,' Kirk commented.

'We're all working as fast as we can,' Carol assured him, 'I know this project is paramount in terms of upholding the temporary peace treaty we signed with the Klingon and Romulan Empires. If Genesis becomes a reality…'

'…then there will be no more territorial wars,' Kirk finished for her, 'ever.'

'Yeah,' Carol said, 'there's nothing I want more than that.'

'Me too,' Kirk agreed.

'This way,' Carol ventured, 'who knows? It might be safe enough for children to live onboard a Starfleet vessel.'

'That would be a dream come true,' Kirk admitted.

'I have to go now,' Carol said, 'but I will send you Jimmy's drawing as soon as I can.'

Kirk nodded feeling, as usual, that their weekly calls were way too short.

'Take care of yourself, Carol.'

'You too, Jim,' she asked him.

'I love you,' he added.

'I love you, too,' his wife replied then, glancing at her husband's First Officer she smiled and said, 'Spock, your father sends his greetings and, also, has asked me to convey a message to you: he said he wishes for you to contact him.'

'Is there any emergency?' Spock asked her sounding a little concerned.

'Not as such,' Carol assured him, 'I think he's just a little lonely and wants to hear from his only son.'

'Oh,' Spock just said, 'I see.'

'We'll contact him soon,' Uhura promised her getting up from her seat, 'I'll patch the call through to you myself,' she added smiling at her boyfriend in a way that didn't welcome any arguments.

'Understood,' Spock wisely replied.

'Thank you, Nyota,' Dr Kirk said.

'You're welcome, Carol,' Uhura replied.

'Take care of yourselves,' Carol said to her husband's bridge crew, 'and I'll see you all next week.'

With that, she terminated the transmission making the dark and starry space reappear on the viewscreen. The vastness of it made Kirk think that in such big universe, if the new Genesis device worked as programmed, finding space for all of them to live in peace would not be so difficult anymore. Maybe this way every family could be together, and, as Spock would say, live long and prosper.

_THE END (for now?)_


End file.
